Iran jails woman for 10 years for ‘spying for Britain’ as tensions bubble between Tehran and the West – The Sun

AN IRANIAN woman has been jailed for ten years in Tehran after being accused of "spying for Britain".

The woman – named by a friend as Aras Amiri – had been "in charge of the Iran desk" of the British Council, Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said.

She was arrested while on a visit to Tehran in March 2018, it's claimed.

Her sentencing comes amid rising tensions between Tehran and the West over its nuclear and missile programmes.

The friend told Reuters that Amiri, 33, was resident in Britain but did not have British nationality.

She had gone on trial recently and was waiting a verdict, according to the friend.

The British Foreign Office said it was "very concerned" at the reports. "We have not been able to confirm any further details at this stage and are urgently seeking further information," a Foreign Office spokeswoman said.

Esmaili said the sentenced woman was a student in Britain before being recruited by the British Council to run its Iran desk, and was in charge of projects for "cultural infiltration" in Iran. He said the woman had been in custody for almost a year.

JAILED

The British Council is the UK's international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities, working in arts and culture, the English language, education and civil society.

The Council told Reuters it did not have offices or representatives in Iran, and did no work in the country.

It also said "our colleague who was detained last year is not head of 'the Iran desk', (but rather) worked in Britain in a junior role to support and showcase the Iranian contemporary art scene to UK audiences".

It is outrageous, really – the UK needs to step up and protect citizens.

The sentencing has been criticised as a "slap in the face" by the husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian woman who was jailed for five years for allegedly planning the "soft toppling" of Iran's government while travelling with her young daughter.

Richard Ratcliffe said it was "outrageous" that the latest suspect was given a ten-year sentence.

He told the Press Association: "It is outrageous, really – the UK needs to step up and protect citizens.

"Nazanin called me last night to say that somebody was being taken down from the cells to be sentenced by the judge.

'She was very despondent."

The arrest of Iranians accused of espionage has increased since Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said last year there had been infiltration of Western agents in the country.

Iran has been increasingly at odds with Western countries since the United States withdrew a year ago from a deal Tehran signed with global powers in 2015 to curb its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of sanctions.

Britain is a signatory to the nuclear deal. Like other European signatories, it supports maintaining the deal.

The United States has ratcheted up sanctions against Iran this month, revoking waivers that had permitted some countries to continue buying Iranian oil.

Tehran has responded by scaling back some curbs on its nuclear programme, although the steps it has taken so far stop short of violating the agreement.

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