Iran Upholds Death Sentence for Alleged US Spy

TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — A death sentence for an Iranian convicted of spying for the United States has been upheld by the supreme court, the judiciary spokesman said Tuesday.

Amir Rahimpour was convicted of conspiring to sell information on Iran’s nuclear program for large sums from the Central Intelligence Agency, spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili told a news conference broadcast by state television.

In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian Presidency, President Hassan Rouhani speaks in the inauguration ceremony of a power plant in northwestern Iran, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2019. Rouhani said U.S. financial sanctions on Iran's foreign minister are "childish" and a barrier to diplomacy. (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)

The judiciary announced in October last year that an Iranian had been sentenced to death for spying for the United States, but the spokesman said then that he would not release the convict’s name until the sentence had been confirmed.

Tehran announced in July it had dismantled a CIA spy ring, arresting 17 suspects and sentencing some of them to death.

Iranian authorities said the arrests were carried out between March 2018 and March 2019.

President Trump dismissed the claim as “totally false.”

Categories / Appeals, Criminal, International

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