Jews Spared Death Penalty In Spying Case

Iran Gives Prison Terms To 10 Convicted Of Working For Israel

July 02, 2000|By Tom Hundley, Tribune Foreign Correspondent. news services contributed to this report.

TEHRAN — A Revolutionary Court judge convicted 10 Iranian Jews of spying for Israel and sentenced them to prison terms ranging from 4 to 13 years in a case that has drawn close international scrutiny. Three other Jewish defendants were acquitted.

American Jewish groups and the government of Israel were quick to condemn Saturday's guilty verdicts at a trial in the southern city of Shiraz, but many in Iran, including its significant Jewish community, were relieved by what they considered to be fairly light sentences. Some Iranians had demanded death sentences.

"None of these verdicts and sentences are final, and all can be appealed," said Esmail Naseri, the lead defense attorney. "We are relieved that there were no death sentences."

Eight of the accused pleaded guilty to charges that included membership in an illegal group and cooperating with a hostile government. Two who were identified as ringleaders received the stiffest sentences, 13 years. One of them, Hamid Tefilin, 31, a shoe salesman, made a confession that was broadcast on national television; the other is Asher Zedmehr, 54, an English teacher.

Another defendant, Nasser Levihaim, 50, a civil servant, told the court he agreed to cooperate with the Israelis for "ideological reasons." He received an 11-year prison sentence. Another, Ramin Farzam, a 27-year-old store clerk, said he was paid by Israel but got caught before he could pass any information. He was sentenced to 10 years.

Israel denies recruiting any of the Iranians as agents.

"Iran cannot be accepted as a member of the international community as long as Jewish prisoners are rotting away in prison when they have done no wrong," said Aviv Shiron, spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

Most of the accused Jews are from Shiraz, an ancient city where Jews have lived for 2,700 years.

Four Muslims also were charged in connection with the case. Two were acquitted, and two received 2-year sentences. Little information has been released about the Muslims involved.

Many who have been following the trial here expect the sentences to be reduced after a few months.

The case has been a strange one from the beginning. It has drawn sharp criticism from Western governments, including the United States, which believe the espionage charges were trumped up.

Within Iran, the trial became a delicate point of contention in the dangerous power struggle between Iran's moderates and conservatives.

The moderates, who have been cautiously pursuing rapprochement with the West, understood that a conviction or an unduly severe sentence could derail their efforts. Conservatives, who have suffered badly in recent elections but who still retain control of judiciary, used the trial as a kind of litmus test of their anti-West values.

Caught in the middle is Iran's hardy but dwindling Jewish community, one of the few in the Islamic world to survive since the creation of Israel. They number nearly 30,000 and as an officially recognized minority, they enjoy extensive legal protections under Iran's Islamic constitution, including a guaranteed seat in the parliament. But the spy trial has unnerved them, and many fear the guilty verdict will spur an exodus like after the 1979 revolution .

"Suitcases are packed. Many people have already left," said Parviz Ahoubim, a Tehran businessman and activist in the local Jewish community."

He estimated that some 3,000 Jews had left the country during the last year, most of them going to the United States.

"Even those who never thought about [leaving] before are thinking about it now. They don't feel secure. They are afraid they will be next," he said.

Before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, 80,000 Jews lived in Iran. Those who remain are usually quick to profess a deep loyalty to their homeland. About two dozen synagogues are still functioning in Tehran, and it is possible to find kosher butchers and eat in kosher restaurants in the capital.

The only other Islamic country with a comparable Jewish population is Turkey.

The first arrests in the case were made in January 1999. Iranian prosecutors said that members of the "spy network" met with Israeli intelligence agents who wanted them to gather information on the nuclear power plant that Iran is building with Russian help in the nearby city of Bushehr.

Diplomats and others who monitored the case said the charges seemed far-fetched because most of the accused were shop clerks or low-ranking bureaucrats.

At first, Western governments worked to resolve the matter through quiet diplomacy. Moderates led by President Mohammad Khatami seemed to appreciate the potential public relations disaster of the spy trial.

But, to the chagrin of Iran's Jewish community, pressure from a number of outside Jewish groups forced the issue into the open and backed the conservatives into a corner.