Iran jails two, including UK dual national for spying for Israel

Iran has sentenced a British-Iranian man to 12 years in prison after accusing him of spying for Israel, while upholding the 10-year sentence of another UK resident.

Anousheh Ashouri, a woman with British and Iranian citizenship, got 10 years in prison for feeding information to Israel’s Mossad spy agency.  She was also handed a two-year prison sentence for receiving 33,000 euros ($36,600) in illicit funds from Israel and ordered to pay the same amount in fines.

Ali Johari, an Iranian national, was also sentenced to 10 years in prison for various espionage offences, including “widespread connections with Mossad… and meeting with various elements linked to the Zionists”, A spokesman for the Iranian judiciary, Gholam hossein Esmaili said.

Meanwhile , an appeals court upheld a 10-year prison sentence against Aras Amiri, an Iranian national and British Council worker. Amiri was living in London when she was arrested in 2018 during a trip to Iran to visit relatives.

Esmaili said she had been identified “because of her cultural infiltration in society through arts and her widespread activities”.