WORLD> Middle East
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WORLD> Middle East
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Iran prosecutor seeks death penalty in Israel spy case
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-11-26 09:53 TEHRAN -- A prosecutor said on Tuesday he would seek the death penalty for three Iranians who he said had been sent on a mission by Israeli intelligence to carry out assassinations and military sabotage in Iran, media reported.
It came three days after Iran's judiciary said an Iranian businessman convicted of spying on the military for Israel, the Islamic Republic's arch foe, had been executed. "The mission of this team was to assassinate, bomb and kill some of the country's military scientists and also blow up the country's military, missile and important strategic bases," ISNA news agency quoted Tehran prosecutor Saeed Mortazevi as saying. Tension between Iran and Israel have been running high in recent months amid speculation the Jewish state might attack Iranian nuclear facilities which it believes form part of a covert weapons programme. Iran rejects the accusation and says it would retaliate for any military strikes launched by Israel, believed to be the only Middle Eastern country with nuclear arms, or the United States. Iran's Al-Alam television station said the three accused spies were members of an alleged Israeli-linked network which Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Monday said they had broken up. Mortazevi said that as the case was directly related to Israel, which he said was seen as hostile to Iran, "the prosecutor's office will request from the court the punishment of execution for all members of this network." ISNA described the detainees as "Mossad spies", referring to Israel's foreign intelligence agency. Mortazevi said they had received training both outside and inside Israel and that they had used sophisticated satellite and other equipment in their spying activities and for transferring information to Mossad. The first member of the network who had arrived in Iran was detained 5-6 months ago, the prosecutor said, saying this person had planned to get close to some Revolutionary Guards commanders and to the force's missile base. He did not say whether they were linked to executed Iranian businessman Ali Ashtari or the arrest of a group of "terrorists" last week. The Iranian judiciary said on Saturday Ashtari was hanged on November 17. It said he was arrested in 2006 after working with Mossad for three years. An Israeli government official said in June that Israel had no knowledge of Ashtari's case. Iran's official news agency IRNA also reported on Saturday that a group of four "terrorists" with "Zionist equipment and methods" had been arrested in western Iran. Iran often accuses Israel and other foes, such as the United States, of trying to destabilise the Islamic state. The Revolutionary Guards are an ideologically motivated arm of Iran's military with an independent command structure. |
