TEHRAN: Iran on Tuesday said it sentenced three people — one woman and two men — to lengthy prison terms on security and spying charges. The men were convicted of spying for Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency.
Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said in remarks broadcast on state TV that the convicted woman is Aras Amiri, who had worked for the British Council while allegedly spying on cultural activities in Iran. The British Council is a non-political organization that works in education, arts and culture.
Amiri has been jailed for the past year while her case was under investigation. She was sentenced to 10 years.
Esmaili identified one of the men as Anoush Ashoori, a dual British-Iranian national. He was sentenced to 12 years for ties to Mossad, as was Ali Johari. Ashoori was detained in Tehran in August 2017.
Johari allegedly passed on information about construction projects by a Revolutionary Guard-affiliated construction conglomerate, Khatam Al-Anbia. Esmaili said Johari traveled to Israel and was in touch with Mossad in various countries including India, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office said in a Tuesday statement that it has been supportive of Ashoori’s family since his detention and the British Embassy in Tehran continues to request consular access.
“The treatment of all dual nationals detained in Iran is a priority and we raise their cases at the most senior levels. We urge Iran to let them be reunited with their families,” the statement said.
The sentencing comes at a time of increased tensions between the US and Iran over its unraveling nuclear deal with world powers, including Britain. Though the British Embassy in Tehran has reopened, the British Council has been closed since 2009.
Another British-Iranian woman held in Tehran, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, is currently serving a five-year prison sentence for allegedly planning the “soft toppling” of Iran’s government while traveling with her young daughter.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who works for the charity arm of Thomson Reuters, was arrested in April 2016. Her sentence has been widely criticized.
Iran does not recognize dual nationalities.
Hard-liners in Iran view the country as fighting a cultural “soft war” against Westernization, which they believe is attempting to transform the country’s Islamic beliefs.
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Iran sentences 3 to long prison terms on spying charges
Iran sentences 3 to long prison terms on spying charges
- Two of them have dual British nationality
- The sentencing comes at a time of increased tensions between the US and Iran
5 bodies of migrants washed ashore in east of Libya’s capital Tripoli, police officer says
TRIPOLI: At least five bodies of migrants including two women have been washed ashore in َQasr Al-Akhyar, a coastal town in the east of Libya’s capital Tripoli, a police officer told Reuters on Saturday.
Hassan Al-Ghawil, head of investigations at the Qasr Al-Akhyar police station, said that according to people in the area, a child’s body washed ashore and because of the waves’ height the body returned to the sea, and the coast guard was asked to search for it.
Ghawil said the bodies are all dark-skinned people. The bodies were found on Emhamid Al-Sharif shore in the western part of the town by people who reported to the police station.
Libya has become a transit route for migrants fleeing conflict and poverty to Europe across the Mediterranean since the fall in 2011 of dictator Muammar Qaddafi to a NATO-backed uprising. Factional conflict has split the country into western and eastern factions since 2014.
Qasr Al-Akhyar is a coastal town some 73 kilometers (45 miles) east of Tripoli.
Pictures were posted on the Internet, and also seen by Reuters, showing the bodies of the migrants lying on the shore, where some were still within black inflatable lifebuoys.
“We reported to the Red Crescent to recover the bodies,” said Ghawil. “The bodies we found are still intact and we think there are more bodies to wash ashore.”
Earlier this month, fifty-three migrants, including two babies, were dead or missing after a rubber boat carrying 55 people capsized off the coast of Zuwara town in western Tripoli, the International Organization for Migration said.
Last week, a UN report said migrants in Libya, including young girls, are at risk of being killed, tortured, raped or put into domestic slavery, calling for a moratorium on the return of migrant boats to the country until human rights are ensured.
Hassan Al-Ghawil, head of investigations at the Qasr Al-Akhyar police station, said that according to people in the area, a child’s body washed ashore and because of the waves’ height the body returned to the sea, and the coast guard was asked to search for it.
Ghawil said the bodies are all dark-skinned people. The bodies were found on Emhamid Al-Sharif shore in the western part of the town by people who reported to the police station.
Libya has become a transit route for migrants fleeing conflict and poverty to Europe across the Mediterranean since the fall in 2011 of dictator Muammar Qaddafi to a NATO-backed uprising. Factional conflict has split the country into western and eastern factions since 2014.
Qasr Al-Akhyar is a coastal town some 73 kilometers (45 miles) east of Tripoli.
Pictures were posted on the Internet, and also seen by Reuters, showing the bodies of the migrants lying on the shore, where some were still within black inflatable lifebuoys.
“We reported to the Red Crescent to recover the bodies,” said Ghawil. “The bodies we found are still intact and we think there are more bodies to wash ashore.”
Earlier this month, fifty-three migrants, including two babies, were dead or missing after a rubber boat carrying 55 people capsized off the coast of Zuwara town in western Tripoli, the International Organization for Migration said.
Last week, a UN report said migrants in Libya, including young girls, are at risk of being killed, tortured, raped or put into domestic slavery, calling for a moratorium on the return of migrant boats to the country until human rights are ensured.
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