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June 11, 1999/27 Sivan 5759, Vol. 51, No.37
Iranian Jews detainedJewish Telegraphic AgencyIsrael and the United States have strongly condemned the Iranian government for charging 13 Iranian Jews with spying for America and the Jewish state.Israel called for the immediate release of the detainees, and the United States criticized the arrests, saying, "They are a very disturbing signal." Iran's state-run radio broadcast a report of the charges June 7, according to a report by the Associated Press quoting the British Broadcasting Company. Espionage is punishable by death in Iran, the AP report said, noting that in 1997 Iran hanged two people convicted of spying for Israel and America. Israel's Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon on June 8 met briefly with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to discuss the arrests. Annan has made "numerous approaches on behalf of these people," according to Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, which has been involved in the issue since the Jews were arrested in March. In New York on a personal visit, Sharon this week "declared that none of the arrested men was involved in espionage and that none of them has, or has had in the past, any connection with any Israeli intelligence agency," according to a statement from Israel's Foreign Ministry. |
