Charged: Hossein Mousavian passed secrets to the British Embassy in Iran, it was claimed
Posted on 11/14/2007 10:48:12 PM PST by Stoat
Iran's former senior nuclear negotiator has been arrested and charged with spying for Britain.
Hossein Mousavian, who played a pivotal role in Iran's fraught negotiations with the West over Tehran's nuclear programme, is said to have passed classified information to the British Embassy in the Iranian capital.
A former security official and respected ambassador, Mousavian is also accused of meeting and communicating with foreign agents and exchanging sensitive information with them.
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Charged: Hossein Mousavian passed secrets to the British Embassy in Iran, it was claimed
The charges will place more pressure on the tense diplomatic relationship between London and Tehran over the nuclear enrichment programme at a time when the United Nations is considering stepping up sanctions against Iran.
Mousavian was one of the Iranian government's top nuclear negotiators under former reformist President Mohammad Khatami until hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected.
He removed the negotiating team, which he had accused of making too many concessions to the West.
Significantly, on Monday President Ahmadinejad attacked critics of his nuclear policies as "traitors" and accused them of spying for Iran's enemies.
He used his strongest rhetoric yet against his domestic opponents and raised concerns of a possible crackdown.
"We even have a recorded speech of one of them telling the enemy, "Why should you give up?... Step up pressures to make them (Iran) retreat"," Ahmadinejad said, without identifying the person at the time.
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Mousavian is a close friend of Hashemi Rafsanjani (left), a leading rival to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (right)
A spokesman for the Foreign Office in London declined to comment yesterday but one official in the Middle East said Mousavian regularly met European envoys in Tehran from October 2003 in talks to resolve the nuclear dispute.
"It was normal diplomatic activity in that we sought to find out what the Iranian position was and he conveyed the Iranian position," one European envoy said.
"Whether they are simply claiming that in doing their government duty people like Mousavian were traitors, or whether they are claiming that over and above their government duty Mousavian passed sensitive information, we don't know," the envoy added.
Mousavian, who was also briefly detained in May on suspicion of espionage, is said to have been taken into custody on Monday shortly after appearing at a rally next to former president Hashemi Rafsanjani when he warned that Iran was facing "serious threats."
It was Mousavian's first major public appearance since being released in May.
No details of when he will appear in court were given yesterday but he is likely to appear before Iran's Revolutionary Courts. The charges carry sentences of up to life in prison.
Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehi, a former judge, speaking on behalf of the authorities, said: "He has been informed of the charges that he has given the British Embassy information contrary to the security of the country.
"His crime from the viewpoint of the Intelligence Ministry is obvious and provable."
Mousavian was a senior member of Iran's negotiating team between 2003 and 2005 which regularly met EU officials.
He was Iran's ambassador to Germany in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
He's been a thorn in Ahmadinejad's smelly backside for quite some time, and this will be a perfect time for him to 'have a heart attack while in custody'.
Goodbye Mr. Mousavian. If you were indeed trying to help the Good Guys, then may your suffering be short and may you find everlasting peace.
What needs to be emphasized to our complacent MSM and Demagogues is that this is yet another confirmation that Iran’s nuclear aims are military and not merely civilian. What could be so incredibly sensitive about CIVILIAN nuclear power, which the UK and USA pioneered 50+ years ago, that would warrant charges of espionage, treason, etc.????
Ahmawhackoff is showing once again that this is no mere civilian nuclear program, for which Iran could not possibly give Britain any such ‘sensitive’ info.
“President Ahmadinejad attacked critics [...] as ‘traitors’”
Who knew Ann Coulter was moonlighting as a speach writer for Islamic fundamentalists?
fyi
“It was Mousavian’s first major public appearance since being released in May.”
That’s why they nabbed him.
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