Iran says second US-Iranian charged with spying

[maddezmom]

Source: AFP

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran said on Tuesday it has detained US-Iranian social science scholar Kian Tajbakhsh on charges of spying, the same accusation levelled against another scholar with dual nationality. the judiciary spokesman said on Tuesday.

Judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi confirmed that US-Iranian scholar Haleh Esfandiari, who was detained on May 8, has been formally accused by the intelligence ministry of "acting against the security of the country through propaganda and espionage for foreigners."

"The same goes for Mr Tajbakhsh. He is being kept in detention," said Jamshidi, confirming that Esfandiari was also still being held.

An expert in urban planning who has taught in the United States and Iran and worked for the World Bank, Tajbakhsh was arrested on May 11, according to US press reports.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070529/wl_afp/iranusjusticespyrights_070529075731

[Big Pappa]

1. Oh boy,

looks like if your in Iran and have any kind of ties to the Great Satan, you might think about moving along.

[mitchtv]

2. Good idea, I'd be on my way quickly and quietly

There might be some hope for the Iranian diplomats being held in Iraq, on the other hand. They say this might be a tactic to get them released.

[Big Pappa]

3. In between a tug of war with two madmen.

n/t

[Eugene]

4. 3 Iranian-Americans Charged With Spying

Source: Associated Press

3 Iranian-Americans Charged With Spying

Tuesday May 29, 2007 12:16 PM

AP Photo LON803

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI

Associated Press Writer

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - U.S. academic Haleh Esfandiari and two
other Iranian-Americans have been “formally charged” with
endangering national security and espionage, Iran's judiciary
spokesman said Tuesday.

“Esfandiari has been formally charged with endangering national
security through propaganda against the system and espionage
for foreigners,” spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi told reporters.
“She has been informed of the charges against her.”

Jamshidi did not say when the specific allegations had been
read to Esfandiari, director of the Middle East Program at the
Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars. She
has been held at Tehran's notorious Evin Prison since early May.

Jamshidi said the same charges also had been lodged against
Kian Tajbakhsh, an urban planning consultant who also has
worked for the World Bank, and journalist Parnaz Azima. No
trial date has been announced and Jamshidi said the
investigation against all three is continuing.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6667770,00.html

[ohio2007]

5. one "spy" is a peace activist with the George Soros’s Open Society Institute,

and another is a peace activist working with the University of California-Irvine.


Iran Takes Prisoners

Nervous mullahs in action.

SNIP
The most high-profile victim of this offensive is Haleh Esfandiari, the head of the Middle East program at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, who was rounded up May 8 on charges of trying to foment a “soft revolution” against the Iranian regime. Ever since, she has languished in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison, in spite of public entreaties for her release from prominent policymakers and senior statesmen.

Esfandiari is hardly the only casualty of the regime’s crackdown. Back in January, Parnaz Azima, a correspondent for the U.S. government’s Persian-language Radio Farda service, was stripped of her passport and placed under surveillance, accused of carrying subversive information into the Islamic Republic.
Most recently, the Iranian regime’s security forces have detained two other activists: Kian Tajbakhsh, a social scientist affiliated with George Soros’s Open Society Institute,
and Ali Shakeri, a peace activist working with the University of California-Irvine.

SNIP


http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=Mzc4NmFhMTk3ZmFmNDAyMmM1YjNjY2Q1NWFlOGI4N2E=

go figger
Peace in our time by George