Iran Sentences U.S. Man to Death in CIA Spy Case

An Iranian court has convicted an American
man of working for the CIA and sentenced him to death, state radio
reported Monday, in a case adding to the accelerating tension between
the United States and Iran.

Iran charges that as a former U.S. Marine,
Amir Mirzaei Hekmati, received special training and served at U.S.
military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan before heading to Iran for his
alleged intelligence mission. The radio report did not say when the
verdict was issued.
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.


Behnaz Hekmati, his mother, said in an email
to The Associated Press that she and her husband, Ali, are "shocked and
terrified" that their son has been sentenced to death. She said the
verdict is "the result of a process that was neither transparent nor
fair."


Under Iranian law, he has 20 days to appeal.
Hekmati has a court-appointed lawyer who was identified only by his
surname, Samadi, and there was no word about an appeal.


Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehei, spokesman for
Iran's judiciary said if the verdict is appealed, it would go to Iran's
Supreme Court, the official IRNA news agency reported.


Hekmati's trial took place as the U.S.
announced new, tougher sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program,
which Washington believes Tehran is using to develop a possible atomic
weapons capability.


Iran, which says it only seeks nuclear
reactors for energy and research, has sharply increased its threats and
military posturing against stronger pressures, including the U.S.
sanctions targeting Iran's Central Bank in attempts to complicate its
ability to sell oil.


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


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


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


Iran arrested three Americans in July 2009
along the border with Iraq and accused them of espionage, though the
Americans said they were just hiking in the scenic and relatively
peaceful Kurdish region of northern Iraq.


One of them was released after a year in
prison, and the other two were freed in September in deals involving
bail payments that were brokered by the Gulf sultanate of Oman, which
has good relations with Iran and the U.S.


On Dec. 18, Iran's state TV broadcast video
of Hekmati delivering a purported confession in which he said he was
part of a plot to infiltrate Iran's Intelligence Ministry.


In a statement released the same day, the
Intelligence Ministry said its agents identified Hekmati before his
arrival in Iran, at Bagram Air Field in neighboring 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. News reports have said he was detained in late August or early September.


Hekmati's father said in a December
interview with The Associated Press, that his son was a former Arabic
translator in the U.S. 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 specific details.
Source