Iran sentences American to die for spying

Amir Mirzaei Hekmati

(Reuters) - Iran announced on Monday it had sentenced a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen to death for spying for the CIA, creating fresh grounds for hostility with Washington at a time when Tehran has responded to new U.S. sanctions with military threats.

The United States denies that Arizona-born Amir Mirza Hekmati is a spy, and has demanded his immediate release. Washington says Hekmati has been denied access to Swiss diplomats, who represent U.S. interests in a country where it has had no mission since its embassy was stormed in 1979.

Iran has accused Hekmati of training with the U.S. military as a spy. It aired a televised confession, denounced by Washington, in which he said he worked for a New York-based video game company designing games to manipulate public opinion in the Middle East on behalf of U.S. intelligence.

"Amir Mirza Hekmati was sentenced to death ... for cooperating with the hostile country America and spying for the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency)," ISNA news agency quoted judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei as saying.

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Source: Reuters, January 9, 2012

Iran sentences American to death in spy case

(CNN) -- American Amir Mirzaei Hekmati, on trial in Iran for espionage, has been sentenced to death nearly five months after he was arrested, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported Monday.

A court convicted Hekmati of "working for an enemy country ... for membership in the CIA and also for his efforts to accuse Iran of involvement in terrorism," according to Fars.

Ahead of the verdict, his family and the United States denied the accusations against him.

"We are deeply concerned that Amir is not receiving a fair trial and has not been afforded due process," a family statement released last week said. "We have struggled to provide Amir with an attorney in Iran. We have sought to hire at least 10 different attorneys in Tehran to no avail."

The family said their son was being represented by a government-appointment lawyer.

"Under any standard, this is not acceptable due process of law," the statement said. " We will not stop hoping and praying for justice, for peaceful dialogue with Iran, and for Amir's safe return home."

Hekmati, a former U.S. Marine, was arrested in August while visiting his grandmother and other relatives, his family in Michigan said last month.

The Hekmatis said their son served in the Marines from 2001 to 2005. Later, he started his own linguistics company and contracted his services to the military as well as civilian businesses.

His military contracts included cultural competency training. He worked with troops at military bases to promote understanding of, and positive communication, with people of other cultures, his family said.

Fars reported that Hekmati said he worked for the U.S. Army for four years and later the CIA, where he was sent to Afghanistan and had access to secret documents.

Hekmati was supposed to give his information to the Iranians in two parts -- the first part for free, and if they liked it he would ask for $500,000 for the second part, the news agency said.

Hekmati said he was to get a receipt from the intelligence ministry for the money, Fars reported. The judge speculated whether the receipt would later be used as evidence linking Iran to terrorist activities, the news agency said.

If Iran had paid, Hekmati told the judge, he would have kept the money and lived in Iran, according to Fars.

Source: CNN, January 9, 2012

Iran sentences 'CIA agent' to death

An Iranian court has convicted a US man of working for the CIA and sentenced him to death, state radio reported.

Iran says that Amir Mirzaei Hekmati, a former US marine, received special training and served at US military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan before heading to Iran for his alleged intelligence mission.

The radio report on Monday did not say when the verdict was issued. Under Iranian law, he has 20 days to appeal.

The 28-year-old former military translator was born in Arizona and graduated from high school in Michigan. His family is of Iranian origin.

His father, a professor at a community college in Flint, Michigan, has said his son is not a CIA spy and was visiting his grandmothers in Iran when he was arrested.

Hekmati's trial took place as the US announced new, tougher sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme.

The US and other Western countries believes Iran is developing atomic weapons, an accusation Tehran denies.

Death penalty

The US State Department has demanded Hekmati's release.

The court convicted him of working with a hostile country, belonging to the CIA and trying to accuse Iran of involvement in terrorism, Monday's report said.

In its ruling, a branch of Tehran Revolutionary Court described Hekmati as a mohareb, an Islamic term that means a fighter against God, and a mofsed, or one who spreads corruption on earth. Both terms appear frequently in Iranian court rulings.

In a closed court hearing in late December, the prosecution asked for the death penalty for Hekmati.

The US government has called on Iranian authorities to grant Swiss diplomats access to him in prison. The Swiss government represents US interests in Iran because the two countries don't have diplomatic relations.

Hekmati is a dual US-Iranian national. Iran considers him an Iranian since the country's law does not recognise dual citizenship.

Purported confession

Similar cases against Americans accused of spying have heightened tensions throughout the years-long standoff over Iran's nuclear program.

On December 18, Iran's state TV broadcast video of Hekmati delivering a purported confession.

In a statement released the same day, Iran's Intelligence Ministry said its agents identified Hekmati at Bagram Air Field in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Bagram is the main base for American and other international forces outside Kabul, the Afghan capital.

It is not clear exactly when he was arrested. Iranian news reports have said he was detained in late August or early September.

Hekmati's father, Ali, said in a December interview with The Associated Press, that his son was a former Arabic translator in the US Marines who entered Iran about four months earlier to visit his grandmothers.

At the time, he was working in Qatar as a contractor for a company "that served the Marines," his father said, without providing more specificdetails.

Source: Al Jazeera, January 9, 2012

Dec 27, 2011

In a closed court hearing, the prosecution applied for capital punishment, the report said, because the suspect, identified as Amir Mirzaei Hekmati, “admitted that he received training in the United States and planned to imply...

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