Man Hanged In Iran For Spying For Israel

(AP)  Iran executed a man convicted of spying for Israel, a judiciary spokesman said Saturday.

Ali Reza Jamshidi told The Associated Press that Ali Ashtari was hanged on Nov. 17 after being sentenced to death on June 30 by a revolutionary court in Tehran. It was the country's first known conviction for espionage linked to Israel in almost a decade.

IRNA, Iran's official news agency has confirmed the report.

Jamshidi said Ashtari was found guilty of relaying sensitive information on military, defense and research centers which the 45-year-old electronics salesmen worked with, to Israeli intelligence officers.

Iranian officials have said the material that Ashtari allegedly passed to Israel included information on Iran's Atomic Energy Organization.

A top Iranian intelligence official said that the announcement of Ashtari's hanging was part of an "intelligence battle" with the secret agencies of Iran's enemies, the official IRNA news agency reported.

"We had specific intentions with announcing the execution of Ashtari ... we want to show that new intelligence battles with enemy's intelligence services have begun and that intelligence battles have become more serious," IRNA quoted the head of Counterespionage Department at the Intelligence Ministry as saying.

The news agency didn't identify the intelligence official by name, which is customary in Iran.

The semi-official Mehr news agency quoted the same official as saying Saturday that Ashtari's body was handed over to his family last Monday and later buried.

Jamshidi, the spokesman, said Ashtari was arrested in 2007 after cooperating with the Israeli foreign intelligence agency Mossad for three years. Prior to his trial, Iranian officials accused Ashtari of trying to "create a link" between Iranian experts and Israeli agents.

Iran and Israel have long been enemies. But the ruling against Ashtari is the first time since 2000 that an Iranian court has convicted an Iranian citizen of charges of espionage for Israel. The ruling against Ashtari was handed down by Iran's Revolutionary Court, which handles security issues.

A closed-door trial in 2000 convicted 10 Iranian Jews of spying for Israel and sentenced them to prison terms ranging from four to 13 years. All were released before serving out their full sentences.

Ashtari's hanging comes amid rumors of Israeli intentions to attack Iran's nuclear facilities because of charges that Iran is seeking to build nuclear weapons.

Israel, the United States and many Western countries contend that Iran's nuclear program is intended to produce nuclear weapons. Iran denies that, saying its program is for peaceful purposes.

Earlier this year, Israel Aerospace Industries unveiled its Eitam airplane, equipped with sophisticated intelligence-gathering systems.

Israel also launched an advanced spy satellite in January able to track events even at night and in cloudy weather - all of which could be used to spy on Iran.

In 1981, an Israeli air attack destroyed an unfinished nuclear reactor in Iraq. Israel also hit a suspected nuclear facility in Syria September 2007.

[evian_ycnan]

He never could come to grips with the borderline sociopathy of the competitors the USA faced, Iran being one of them.

Posted by brianwwb at 01:28 PM : Nov 22, 2008

=====================

Those sociopaths were created by many forces, not the least of which was the CIA and US foreign policy.

The Shah was one of our finest works.

[evian_ycnan]

Three words; Pollard, USS Liberty.

[downsteamjim]

It is amazing how many posters here cannot wait for countries like Iran, Syria, etc. to get nuclear weapons. I guess they were not satisfied with the death toll of 9/11.

[cbs_oliver]

"In 1981, an Israeli air attack destroyed an unfinished nuclear reactor in Iraq. Israel also hit a suspected nuclear facility in Syria September 2007."

These attacks presumably killed innocent people and can reasonably be considered state sponsored terrorism.

Very popular these days as long as the perpetrators are members of the right club.

It is unfortunate that Israel and the US/Europe have been doing these kinds of things and that the UN is not serving the function of protecting the peace and denouncing and stopping aggressive attacks of powerful states against less powerful and less well connected states.

[toolmangler-2009]

Posted by cdfoxtrot5 at 01:21 PM : Nov 22, 2008



Well said. It has been the policy of the US (Pushed by Big Oil) to seek a ''democratized gvmnt in the Mid East. This is a failed policy, these people are still living in th 14th century. This is evidenced by the slaughter of non-combatants and prisoners. not to mention the subjugation of women to the status of property.

[cbsblogger]

Make that four questions as number 4 came to mind as very important also

[cbsblogger]

After reading this I have three questions:

1/ Is he really guilty?
2/ What would Israel do if they caught an Iranian spying for Iran?
3/ What would the USA do if they found someone guilty of spying for Iran?
4/ What would the USA do if they found someone spying for Israel?

The answer to #4 is not much as seen by the never ending or is it the never beginning trial of Rosen and Weissman who are accused of spying for AIPAC.

http://www.nysun.com/national/aipac-trial-postponed-again/73450/

We have different standards for different players.

[cdfoxtrot5]

DUEL NATIONALS,
Posted by neoconRcrazy

It'''' spelled DUAL you ignorant bigoted hater.

If you are going to puke hate then at least learn the language you''''re using.

Posted by brianwwb


neoconRcrazy, I hope you''ve learned your lesson. If you say anything remotely critical of Israel, it must mean you are (a) bigoted or (b) anti-semitic or (c) a holocaust denier or (d) all of the above.

[cdfoxtrot5]

Actually, no-- Carter is the reason Iran is what it is today. This isn''''t about left or right wing ideology. This is history. Find a book and read it. It%u2019s not about counts of CIA agents or his ability to predict the changing climate in Iran%u2014it%u2019s about his complete inability and unwillingness to do anything positive to impact the situation.

Posted by unfrgvn82

Actually, no, you''re wrong in your assessment. In the post-WW2 era, the US made a habit of supporting regimes all over the world that were opposed to Communism. No matter what terrible misdeeds they did, such as Pinochet''s Chile, they were oki-doki with the US as long as they opposed Communism. That seemed to be the sole criteria.

As a result, the US was on the wrong side of history and has made long term enemies all over the world. In the case of Iran, the US supported the vile Emperor ruler of Iran prior to the Iranian revolution of 1979. This all pre-dates Carter as president. Had the US NOT supported the Shah, but instead pushed for democracy there, there might never have been a takeover by the more extreme elements that resulted in the Islamic takeover. Again, this all pre-dates Carter and it is factually incorrect to blame him or any individual US president for this. The problem is long-standing US foreign policy in the post-war period - and it lies at the root of many of the world''s problems, including the absence of resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

[cdfoxtrot5]

why shouldnt we hang hang mossad agents who caught by FBI spying for israel in 2000 ?

Posted by kretosdav


There have been many, many spying incidents involving Mossad in the US. You could make similar arguments about the group of Israelis caught filming the 9/11 attacks as they occurred (implying they had advanced warning of them) and rejoicing, doing high-fives, etc. as the planes hit the buildings. These people were arrested and interrogated for several weeks before State Dept. intervention that resulted in them being sent back to their bosses in Tel Aviv.