9-Jan-2012 - Iran Imposes Death Sentence on Alleged US Spy

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He was named as Amir Mirzaei Hekmati, 28. Prosecutors charged that he received espionage training at American bases in Afghanistan and Iraq before infiltrating Iran. The agency said he was sentenced to death for “cooperating with the hostile country and spying for the C.I.A." "The court found him Corrupt on Earth and Mohareb (waging Authentic nfl jerseys war on God)," according to Fars. The formulation is routinely used in cases against alleged enemies of the Islamic Republic and the charge carries the death sentence. Mr. Hekmati’s detention became public last month when Iranian state television broadcast video images of him. It identified him as an American-born Iranian-American from Arizona. In the video, the man identified as Mr. Hekmati said he joined the United States Army after graduating from high school in 2001, served in Iraq and received training in languages and espionage. He said he was sent to Iran by the Central Intelligence Agency to gain the trust of the Iranian authorities by handing over information, some misleading and some accurate. If his first mission was successful, he said he was told, there would be more missions. The claims in the video could not be verified at the time. The C.I.A. declined to comment following the broadcast on December 18. In the televised confession, Mr. Hekmati was shown speaking in fluent English and Farsi. He said he was a C.I.A. operative sent to infiltrate the Iranian intelligence ministry. Iranian officials said Iranian agents identified him at the American-run Bagram air base in Afghanistan and tracked him as he infiltrated Iran. Mr. Hekmati’s family in the United States told American media he had traveled to Iran to visit his Iranian grandmothers and he was not a spy. The United States had demanded Mr. Hekmati’s release and the State Department buy NFL Jerseys said last month that Iran had not permitted diplomats from the Swiss Embassy, which represents American interests in Iran, to see him before or during his trial. Accusations by Iran of espionage inside its borders are common and Iran often announces that it has captured or executed people it says are spies for Western powers and Israel. On Sunday, Heydar Moslehi, the Iranian intelligence minister, said Iran had arrested several spies who sought to carry out American plans to disrupt parliamentary elections in March, according to Fars. Speaking to reporters after a cabinet meeting in Tehran, he said: "Our intelligence apparatus had complete information about the activities of the arrested spies. The detainees were in contact with abroad through cyberspace networks. We arrested them after we obtained full information about their espionage activities."

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