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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Iran Arrests Lawyer Defending "Nuclear Spies" |
| 2005-08-02 |
| From Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty [Attorney] Abdolfattah Soltani was arrested in Tehran on 30 July and taken to an unknown place, apparently for divulging the contents of a nuclear espionage case, Radio Farda and ISNA reported on 31 July. Judiciary spokesman Jamal Karimi-Rad said on 31 July that Soltani discussed the case with the families of defendants. .... The Information Ministry, he added, has a full dossier on Soltani. But lawyer Mohammad Ali Dadkhah told Radio Farda that Soltani should first have been summoned to court to hear charges. Dadkhah added that the judiciary spokesman has spoken about the charges as if Soltani were already convicted. Radio Farda reported on 31 July that men presenting themselves as judiciary agents searched Soltani's house "five days before" his arrest, and took away unspecified papers and documents. Soltani told Radio Farda on 23 July that he believed the Tehran chief prosecutor Said Mortazavi was taking measures that would lead to his "arrest and torture." Iranian officials reported the arrest of a dozen "nuclear spies" in December 2004. The relevant earlier RFE/RL report. Intelligence and Security Minister Hojatoleslam Ali Yunesi said in Tehran on 22 December that over the last few years Iran has arrested more than ten "nuclear spies" in Tehran and Hormozgan who were working for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and Israel's Mossad, state television reported. Yunesi said, "Three of those spies were employees of the Atomic Energy Organization. Some of them were military officers and some of the others were self-employed." Yunesi added that any information the U.S. got through these agents was "worthless." The Mujahedin Khalq Organization, an exile opposition group that is on the State Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations, has been the source of several reports on covert Iranian nuclear activities. Yunesi claimed that the U.S. let the MKO make these announcements in order to divert attention from its principle agents. |
| Posted by:Mike Sylwester |
| #1 What did you expect? It's freakin Iran. Have you guys forgotten all those yellow ribbons on the trees for what seemed like forever? |
| Posted by: Ominesh Gleasing2331 2005-08-02 18:14 |