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Iran detains two more over 'espionage'

Iran Materials 26 October 2010 17:02 (UTC +04:00)
Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi says Iran has arrested two more individuals on charges of espionage and their cases are ready to be sent to court
Iran detains two more over 'espionage'

Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi says Iran has arrested two more individuals on charges of espionage and their cases are ready to be sent to court, Press TV reported.

Dolatabadi told reporters on Tuesday that apart from five earlier arrests, the state has prepared two more espionage cases for court.

According to the Iranian official, the individuals arrested in connections with the latest cases had collaborated with Israeli intelligence services.

"These two individuals were linked with the Zionist regime's intelligence services to pass intelligence to them and had received sums of money too," ISNA quoted him as saying on Tuesday.

He added that one of them was involved in counter-revolutionary activities while the other one was working on issues pertaining to domestic affairs of the country.

Earlier this month, Dolatabadi said that five individuals were arrested for infiltrating the country's administrative institutions and passing classified data to foreign countries.

He went on to say that the captured spies supplied the enemy with information on Iran's judiciary, military, space agencies, among other data.

Dolatabadi pointed out on Tuesday that all seven individuals arrested so far had made contacts with foreign intelligence services and were paid in exchange for intelligence.

He said that one of them was also connected with the anti-Iran Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) -- a group listed as a terrorist organization by most countries.

On the case of Sarah Shourd, one of the three Americans arrested in July 2009 after straying into Iran across the border with Iraq, Dolatabadi said the 31-year-old, who was freed on bail last month, "has said in an interview that she plans to return to Iran for her trial."

On November 6, a court will review the charges against the trio, who also face espionage charges in addition to illegal entry.

"According to the law we can invite her to attend the trial and she can defend herself, but if she fails to show up in court, she forfeits her bail."

Shourd, Shane Michael Bauer and Joshua Felix Fattal, both 27, say they were lost while hiking in the mountains of Iraq's Kurdistan region and entered Iran inadvertently.

Iran released Shourd on a bail of $500,000 in September, 14 months after her arrest.

The trial of the three US nationals has been set for and the hearing will most likely take place behind closed doors, the trio's lawyer Masoud Shafi'i said.

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