An unidentified British-Iranian dual citizen has been jailed for six years on spying charges, the official news agency of Iran’s judiciary reported on Sunday.
According to Mizan agency, Tehran-based prosecutor Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi said that “an agent of England’s intelligence service” had received the sentence, and that the prisoner was also under investigation in a separate case related to a private bank.
No further information was reported about when and where the person was arrested and convicted.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
This person has not been identified and “there is no known case of a British-Iranian national being jailed for six years”, says Sky News.
The Independent reports that the UK Foreign Office was “not immediately aware of the case”.
A spokesperson said: “We are currently investigating the reported sentencing of a British-Iranian dual national with the Iranian authorities.”
Because Iran does not recognise dual citizenship, foreign embassies often have limited access to dual nationals held in the country.
Since 2015, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have arrested at least 30 dual citizens, “mostly on spying charges”, Reuters reported in November.
At least two British-Iranian citizens are known to be held in Iran. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian aid worker, was sentenced to five years in jail after being convicted of seeking to overthrow the Iranian government in 2016.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 39, was classified as eligible for early release in December 2017 after spending more than 18 months in an Iranian prison, but she remains in Iranian custody.
Kamal Foroughi, a 78-year-old British-Iranian businessman, was arrested in 2011 and convicted of espionage and possessing alcohol, which is banned in Iran.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
-
All about Zealandia, the Earth’s potential 8th continentThe Explainer The secret continent went undiscovered for over 300 years
-
A reckoning over looted art
The Explainer Thousands of artifacts in U.S. and European collections were stolen from their countries of origin. Should they be sent back?
-
A surge in surge pricing
Feature And more of the week's best financial insight
-
Europe's oldest shoes found in Spanish caves
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
-
Artworks stolen by Nazis returned to heirs of cabaret performer
It wasn't all bad Good news stories from the past seven days
-
Squirrel kebabs on London menu
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
-
Drug could allow you to 'grow new teeth'
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
-
Woman reunited with egg she signed in 1951
It Wasn't All Bad Good news stories from the past seven days
-
10 things you need to know today: September 16, 2023
Daily Briefing Ripple effects seen throughout auto industry as UAW strikes, Lee expected to bring flooding and storm winds to New England, and more
-
American rescued after 12 days in Turkish cave
It wasn't all bad Good news stories from the past seven days
-
What Mexico’s first female president might mean for the ‘femicide nation’
feature The Latin American country is grappling with misogynist crime amid a backdrop of progress for women in politics
