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IRAN HAS HANGED a nuclear scientist convicted of handing over “confidential and vital” information to the United States, a judicial spokesman said.
“Shahram Amiri was hanged for revealing the country’s top secrets to the enemy,” Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejeie was quoted as saying by the Mizan Online news site.
Amiri disappeared in Saudi Arabia in June 2009 and resurfaced a year later in the United States. Iranian officials welcomed him back to Iran but there has been little information released since.
Amiri said after returning to the Islamic republic that he had been held in the US for more than a year after being “kidnapped” at gunpoint by two Farsi-speaking CIA agents in the Saudi city of Medina.
Outsmarted
Ejeie said the US had been “outsmarted” by Iran’s intelligence services.
“American intelligence services thought Iran has no knowledge of his transfer to Saudi Arabia and what he was doing but we knew all of it and were monitoring,” he was quoted by state television as saying.
Tehran and Washington have had no diplomatic ties since 1980, when students stormed the American embassy following the 1979 Islamic revolution.
“This person, having access to confidential and highly confidential information of the regime, had established a connection to our number one enemy, America, and had provided the enemy with Iran’s confidential and vital information,” Ejeie said
“Shram Amiri was tried in accordance with law and in the presence of his lawyer. He appealed his death sentence based on judicial process. The Supreme Court… confirmed it after meticulous reviews,” he added.
The spokesman dispelled a “rumour” by Amiri’s family that he had received a 10-year prison term.
Iran last year signed a landmark deal with world powers, including the US, to place curbs on its controversial nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
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So he defected to the US. Got conned to come back to Iran and was hung as a Spy. And the moral of the story is if you defect never go back.
Mick….i cant help but believe the Saudis were somehow complicit in the deception that led to his “capture” by the Iranians…….
Peter. He wasn’t captured by the Iranians. They Welcomed him back. Then hung him. If he had been “Kidnapped” by the US he would have been a hero in Iran not hung as a traitor. He defected, got home sick, the Iranian said “come on home all is good. Just claim the US kidnapped you on TV and all will be forgiven”. He fell for it. And got hung for it.
Apologies Mick….i misread it.
“Maarg Baarg Amrika”!!
interesting upscaling of rhetoric by the Iranians after a minor thawing in recent years.
Yes..i noted that…perhaps their overtures were deliberately rebuffed by the US at Saudi Arabias behest? That evil symbiosis between the US and Saudi …..
Its a nice story but not entirely believable where the media is concerned, the guy was a traitor. Like Edward Snowden he sold his countries secrets for personal gain.
@ Chris Kirk, did you pull the lever ?
Poor guy was just a pawn to play with for the powers that be on both sides. All the various people involved in his death probably don’t give the sligh*st shit about ending his life or tearing apart his family, are they so detached that they forget that they’re playing with a humans life?
He should have stayed in the US simple as
Perfect excuse for an American invasion and illegal war
Why would the US care? They got what they needed out if him.
Why would mainstream media report it and say absolutely nothing on anwar al awlaki and his teenage son
America should have done the same to Pollard.
They hanged him ,I thought they liked chopping peoples heads off.
The Iranians prefer public hanging. The Saudis like beheading
A charming insight into the cultural nuances in countries of the Middle East
True but the Americans don’t execute people for being gay, practicing sorcery, blasphemy, apostasy, infidelity etc etc
You will find just as many whites get shot , but that doesn’t suit any agendas unless they happen to be Muslim.
Comparing countries where a death penalty for being gay is enshrined in law with sporadic cases of police brutality is bizarre.
watch homeland mate
Wouldn’t say bizarre, merely good ol’ fashioned whataboutery.
I’m sure he’s not the only defector to the US – they’re the main source of info about Iran’s nuclear programme.
North Korean defectors never return. Certain death awaits them if they do
Can’t imagine too many Iranians will after this either…
have your say