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.
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.
-
How clean-air efforts may have exacerbated global warmingUnder the Radar Air pollution artificially cooled the Earth, ‘masking’ extent of temperature increase
-
September 14 editorial cartoonsCartoons Sunday’s political cartoons include RFK Jr on the hook, the destruction of discourse, and more
-
Air strikes in the Caribbean: Trump’s murky narco-warTalking Point Drug cartels ‘don’t follow Marquess of Queensberry Rules’, but US military air strikes on speedboats rely on strained interpretation of ‘invasion’
-
'Axis of upheaval': will China summit cement new world order?Today's Big Question Xi calls on anti-US alliance to cooperate in new China-led global system – but fault lines remain
-
China is silently expanding its influence in American citiesUnder the Radar New York City and San Francisco, among others, have reportedly been targeted
-
How China uses 'dark fleets' to circumvent trade sanctionsThe Explainer The fleets are used to smuggle goods like oil and fish
-
Iran still has enriched uranium, Israeli official saysSpeed Read It remains unclear how long it would take Iran to rebuild its nuclear program following US and Israeli attacks
-
IAEA: Iran could enrich uranium 'within months'Speed Read The chief United Nations nuclear inspector, Rafael Grossi, says Iran could be enriching uranium again soon
-
One year after mass protests, why are Kenyans taking to the streets again?today's big question More than 60 protesters died during demonstrations in 2024
-
Iran nukes program set back months, early intel suggestsSpeed Read A Pentagon assessment says US bombing of Iranian nuclear sites only set the program back by months, not years. This contradicts President Donald Trump's claim.
-
Trump says Iran and Israel agreed to ceasefireSpeed Read This followed a night of Israeli airstrikes on Tehran and multiple waves of missiles fired by Iran
