Iran frees last Jewish 'spies'

Lawyers argued that no evidence against the men was given in court

Iran has released a final group of Jews jailed for spying for Israel, its foreign minister says.

The five had been serving sentences of up to 13 years.

They were found guilty in July 2000 - in a closed Islamic court along with five other Jews and two Muslims - of charges that they had operated a spy ring for Israel.

The trial and convictions led to widespread condemnation from human rights groups and Western governments.

Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said the men had been freed from prison in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz where they were arrested.

"Those among our Jewish compatriots who were in prison in Shiraz are now free," he said at a press conference.

"We hope in the future we will not see such reprehensible activities that lead to imprisonments."

Links denied

In September 2000 the defendants had their sentences reduced by between two and six years. Two were freed as they had completed their sentences.

An appeal to Iran's Supreme Court in February 2001 was rejected, but three more of the men were freed after a pardon from Iran's Supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in October last year.

Iran has a Jewish community numbering around 30,000

Israel, which is not recognised by Iran, has denied any espionage link with the Jewish men.

Defence lawyers had argued at the time of the trial that no documents or evidence of spying by the accused had been produced, only confessions from some of the men.

All but one of the Jews confessed to the charges against them. However some of the confessions were made on state television, a practice denounced by the defence lawyers.

Iran, which has a Jewish community of about 30,000, rejected international criticism of the case as interference in its internal affairs.

It said its courts were independent and that the religion of the defendants had nothing to do with their conviction.

But human rights groups questioned the fairness of the closed-door court which sat without a jury and where the judge was also a prosecutor.

The US condemned the trial as "completely without due process, completely without any openness and completely without any sort of international standards". It demanded the guilty verdicts be overturned.