If his wife and family are still being held inside Iran, it is more likely that he was SENT out (rather than "escaped") by the Iranian regime. To do what? Make contact with expatriot Iranians and try to gather intelligence on their sources inside Iran; to spread disinformation; who knows
You are right. He was a genuine dissident student, which makes his positioning more dangerous for our naive, easily fooled authorities. He is not a bad guy himself but as you say, he has no choice but to obey Mullah pressures.
IN THE MEANTIME, view this and allow your mind to be boggled.
http://noiri.blogspot.com/2008/07/mullah-engineering-mohandessi-mullahi.html