AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Officials have rejected a request by University of Texas President Bill Powers to allow him to issue an official statement on the plight of an Iranian graduate student who is now serving a 10-year prison sentence in his native country.

The former UT Austin student, Omid Kokabee, had been studying optics in the physics department when he was arrested February 2011 at Tehran’s international airport as he was about to get on a flight to return to the U.S. after a short vacation in Iran. Iranian officials accused Kokabee of espionage. He was convicted in May.