IRAN'S JUDICIARY SAYS MAIN SUSPECTS CONFESSED TO SPYING FOR ISRAEL
By Safa Haeri with reports from IPS correspondent in Shiraz
PARIS First of May (IPS) Islamic Judicial authorities in Iran said Monday that at least one of the 13 Iranian Jews detained on charges of espionage for Israel and the United States have confessed "at length" to spying for the Jewish State.
Hojjatoleslam Hosseinali Amiri, the Head of Justice Department of Fars Province told journalists in Shiraz, that Mr. Hamid Teflin, nicknamed "Dany" had admitted to contacts with Mossad, the Israeli secret services.
Speaking at the end of the second session of the trial of the men who were arrested last year, Mr. Amiri said Mr. Teflin, the main suspect, confessed at the court and in the presence of his lawyer that he had been collaborating with Mossad, providing the organisation with military documents.
"Mr. Teflin explained at length and in details how he had been picked up by Mossad, received training and gave classified military documents to Israeli agents against money", Mr. Amiri further said.
However, a lawyer for the suspect told foreign journalists that though the young Dany had confessed to the charges, but in his view, none of the activities he described at the court, including his contacts with Mossad, could be regarded as espionage, for the information passed on the Israelis were not of a secret or classified nature.
As he was speaking, the Television that is controlled by the staunchly anti-Israeli, anti American and anti-Western leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, reported that two other accused have also confessed to charges.
The State run Television latter broadcast an interview with Hamid Tefilin, confessing that he had spied for Israel and betrayed his nation.
"I am guilty. I accept the charges against me. I spied for Israel," said Tefilin, who appeared in his prison clothes for the interview, broadcast on the evening news.
He accused Israel of playing on the religious faith of Jews around the world to get them to do their bidding.
"The government of Israel uses the religious belief of Jews worldwide -- that Israel is our promised land -- to get people to spy for them," he told the TV.
"I have betrayed Iran and trampled on the trust that has been placed in me by the government and the people. I am full of remorse. I now realise that Iran is our home because we live here."
If confirmed, the suspects could be condemned to death, according to Iranian Islamic-based laws.
The indictment has identified "Danny" Tefilin as the alleged prime ringleader.
When asked by journalists what kind of confidential information a shoe-maker like Teflin could give to the Israelis, Mr. Amiri replied there have been "many spies in the world who have had even simpler jobs".
According to Mr. Amiri, the suspects he termed them as "spies" had been working systematically in an espionage ring, citing documents in possession of the court.
He said Israel has recruited the culprits taking advantage of their religious sentiments, adding that other suspects in the case are among the eight (Muslims) also arrested for espionage and would be tried later on.
But neither could be confirmed by independent sources as the trial was held behind closed doors for "reasons of security", according to Hojatoleslam Amiri, as tens of foreign and Iranian journalists and diplomats who had flocked to this beautiful southern city to cover the trial were kept outside, not allowed to participate at the audience.
Mrs. Elahe Sharifpour-Hicks, an Iranian-American observer representing the New York-based Human Rights Watch, said she met with the Islamic Revolution Court's Judge Sadeq Nurani earlier in the day to ask that an international observer or a member of the Jewish community be allowed to attend the trial.
"He apologised, saying he couldn't do that for reasons of national security," Mrs. Sharifpour-Hicks said.
The defendants' families, including his brother, Omid, who, alongside another suspect, Navid Balazadeh, is out on bail and members of Iran's Jewish community, were seen weeping and preying in silence, IPS correspondent reported.
Mr. Amiri further assured the families of the suspects and those following up the case that the suspects will enjoy a fair trial in accordance with Islamic justice.
"The justice system does not involve itself in politics and acts impartially and in complete independence," Amiri assured journalists.
But like all other important and key institutions and powers in Iran, the Judiciary is totally controlled by Mr. Khameneh'i.
Because of this dependence, the Judiciary usually acts as a political arm for the leader, observers noted.
In addition to Mr. Tefilin, Mr. Shahrokh Paknahad, Mr. Faramarz Kashi
And Mr. Rramin Ne'mati were also present in the monday session but the court was suspended without them being heard.
Judge Nurani fixed the next session for Wednesday, adding that hearing will be held once every week.
The trial opened on 13th April without the presence of the suspects, 13 months after they had been arrested, but was adjourned almost immediately after by Hojjatoleslam Nurani, accepting the request of defence lawyers who said they had not the legal five days time to examine the voluminous case.
At the initial hearing in April, Judge Nurani had turned down a request by the community for the 10 held in jail to be released to celebrate the Jewish Passover with their families but the fact that met with the Grand Rabbi of the 25.000 to 30.000 strong Iranian Jewish community and that he did authorised the detainees to mark the feast in prison was regarded by observers and analysts as a positive sign.
"We sent them, via the court, religious books to enable them to celebrate their feast," defence spokesman Esma'il Nasseri said.
One of the oldest in the world with some 4000 years of continued presence, the Iranian Jewish community of about 80.000 before the victory of the Islamic revolution of 1979 is still considered as the most important and the freest in all the Middle East
Like the Christians and Zoroastrians the Jews are officially recognised by the Iranian Constitution and have one representative at the Majles, the Iranian parliament.
Highly informed Jewish sources with access to the case told Iran Press Service that Mr. Amiri's statement did not surprised them as the detainees were "fully brain washed" during the year they lived in prison, cut from outside world.
"They have full trust in Mr. Nurani. They have accepted that what they have done was espionage, even though they were not in any position to have access to military documents nor to any information the kind needed by an organisation like Mossad. The fact is that they are very ordinary, unsophisticated people", the sources observed, speaking on condition of not being identified.
Mr. Naseri confirmed, pointing out that Mr. Teflin could not explain what exactly he transmitted to the Israelis. There are no sound documents sustaining the charges nor Mr. Teflin's admissions", he was quoted as to have told some Jewish representatives.
On Monday, the Court was supposed examine the cases of four of the 13 suspects, but heard only Mr. Teflin's, who, according to Mr. Naseri, denied charges of having created a spying ring and was actively hiring other agents for Mossad.
The case has sparked deep concern among Iranian Jewish community, one of the oldest in the world, as well as abroad, where a number of countries and international human rights organisations, including the United States, the European Union, the Soviet Union, Amnesty International and the New York-based Human Rights Watch have either condemned the arrests or called on Iran to ensure the detained Jews a fair trial.
Diplomats and observers say in case the suspects are sentenced to death, some countries would withdraw their ambassadors in protest plunging Tehran relations with outside world into another round of crisis no side wants.
Iranian authorities insist that religion has no bearing on the case and notes that eight Muslims are also involved.
But observers say the unidentified Muslims were "added" to the Jews after Jewish organisations outside maintained that the men were detained because of their faith.
Talking to the official Iranian news agency IRNA, Mr. Haroun Yashayai'i, head of Iran's Jewish Society, accused the foreign media of "having magnified the trial", confirmed that the suspects weren't arrested because of religion and observed that no actions were taken against their relatives.
"The trial needs no follow-up or international sympathy," IRNA quoted him.
At the end of the first session, Naseri and other defence lawyers had dismissed the charges and said any confessions not made in court were invalid.
"Espionage charges has a legal definition. Revealing information on the everyday affairs of the country cannot be considered a crime", Mr. Naseri told the pro-government daily "Iran", explaining that "a spy is someone who intends to transfer top secret classified documents of the Islamic Republic to another country".
He had told Reuters news agency before the Monday trial that he was prepared to argue that even if his client had communicated with people inside Israel, this were not made as part of an espionage scheme.
"The defence will be based on the fact that the acts committed by the suspects, whatever they were, were not espionage," Naseri said.
The trial comes as the conservatives, led by the badly lamed Ayatollah Khameneh'i and former president Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani who was crushed in the February Majles elections have launched a rear guard offensive against the reformists following their landslide victory in the Legislative elections, sweeping the more than two third of the 290 seats in the first round.
In an unparalleled move, the hard liners closed 16 pro-Khatami and independent publications, including five mass circulation dailies, arrested four leading reformist journalists, two prominent female activists, secularist lawyer Mehranguiz Kaar and independent Publisher Shahla Lahiji, as well as Mr. Alireza Afshar, one of the leaders of the pro-reform Office of Consolidating Unity, Iran's largest students organisation. ENDS JEWS TRIAL 1500