DATE=7/1/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=IRAN TRIAL VERDICT (L)
NUMBER=2-263969
BYLINE=LAURIE KASSMAN
DATELINE=CAIRO
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: An Iranian court in the southern city of
Shiraz has convicted 10 Iranian Jews of spying for
Israel and sentenced them to jail terms ranging from
four to 13 years. Three other were acquitted. Two
Muslim defendants were acquitted as well, but two
others received jail terms on charges of spying. As
V-O-A's Laurie Kassman reports from our Middle East
Bureau, the verdict has sparked international
condemnation.
TEXT: A shoe salesman and a university professor,
both Iranian Jews, received the longest jail terms --
13 years each. A young shoe clerk got the shortest
sentence, only four years in jail. Three Jews were
acquitted.
Some of the sentences also included fines and
lashings. Eight of the defendants had pleaded guilty,
but four maintained their innocence. And, one other
said he had passed information to Israeli contacts but
did not consider it spying. Israel has denied any of
the 13 Jews were agents for Israel.
Relatives wept after the verdicts were read out. But
one defense lawyer told reporters in Shiraz he was
relieved none of the defendants received the death
sentence. In 1997 two Jews were hanged on similar
charges.
Iran expert Bahman Baktiari of the American University
in Cairo says international pressure since the start
of the trial in April probably influenced a lighter
sentence.
/// BAKTIARI ACT ///
In a way, there have been a lot of signals, and
also earlier in the year some of the high
officials of the judiciary talked about maybe
sometimes in the national interest, certain
things inside Iran should not happen. So there
was another signal from Iran that they were very
much aware of international pressure in this
trial.
/// END ACT ///
Still, Israel has condemned the verdict. So has the
U-S ambassador to the United Nations. Human rights
groups and western governments had raised concerns
from the start over the fairness of the Shiraz trial
in an Islamic court without a jury.
Iran's Jewish community has been unnerved by the spy
trial. Many Iranian Jews now talk of leaving the
country.
Iran's Jewish community once numbered more than 100-
thousand, but has dwindled to about 25-thousand since
the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Even at that size, it
still represents the largest Jewish community outside
Israel in the Middle East. (Signed)
NEB/LK/DW/JP
01-Jul-2000 09:31 AM EDT (01-Jul-2000 1331 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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