TEHRAN – Iran has charged three detained US citizens with espionage, the official IRNA news agency quoted a judiciary official as saying yesterday.
The three were held after they strayed into Iran from northern Iraq at the end of July.
“We believe strongly that there is no evidence to support any charge whatsoever,” US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said on a visit to Berlin yesterday.
The three, Shane Bauer (27), Sarah Shourd (31), and Josh Fattal (27), crossed into Iran from Iraq. Their families say they strayed across the border accidentally.
“The three are charged with espionage. Investigations continue into the three detained Americans in Iran,” Tehran general prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi told IRNA.
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suggested in an interview with the American television network NBC in September that the Americans’ release might be linked to the release of Iranian diplomats he said were being held by US troops in Iraq.
Under Iran’s Islamic sharia law, espionage is punishable by death.The United States has sent strong messages to Iran urging the release of the three hikers, calling Iranian authorities to exercise “compassion” towards the three Americans.
Some Iranian authorities have linked the illegal entry of the Americans to unrest that erupted after Iran’s June presidential election.
Mr Ahmadinejad’s re-election on June 12th sparked Iran’s worst unrest since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Authorities deny vote-rigging and portrayed the unrest as a foreign-backed bid to undermine the Islamic state.
Mr Dolatabadi said the case of a Danish student detained during a rally on November 4th to mark the anniversary of the seizure of the US embassy, which turned into a protest against the clerical establishment, was under investigation.
“This accused Danish citizen has introduced himself as a reporter but he holds no official press accreditation. Investigations about him continue,” he said.
“Today the Danish embassy lawyer was allowed to meet the prisoner.” – (Reuters)