Iran sentences dual-national man to prison for spying

Tehran state television speculates US or Israel may be behind infiltration of ‘sensitive’ governmental bodies

Illustrative: A prison in Iran. (CC BY-SA Ehsan Iran/Wikipedia)
Illustrative: A prison in Iran. (CC BY-SA Ehsan Iran/Wikipedia)

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s judiciary spokesman said Sunday that a court has sentenced a dual national man to eight and a half years in prison, after finding him guilty of infiltration of important governmental bodies.

Sunday’s report by the semi-official ISNA news agency quotes Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejehi as saying the suspect was tried based on a report by the intelligence department after he infiltrated “some sensitive centers.”

The report identified convict’s surname as Tavakkoli, and said he was also fined $48,000. It did not include his other nationality, but added: “Usually these sorts of individuals are working for the US and Israel.”

Occasionally Iran detains dual-nationals over similar security charges.

In 2015, Iran detained a Lebanese engineer residing in the US resident and later sentenced him to 10 years in prison on spying charges.

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