Iran trial Sars ‘apolo ' from UK embassy worker World itws guardia ,. , http://www.guardlanco.uk/world/2009/aug/08/brltish-en'ibassy-worker-lr...
guardlancouk
Iran trial hears ‘apology' from UK
embassy worker
Hossein Rassam reported as saying that Britain passed
information on post-election protests to US
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Iran trial Sars ‘apolo ' from UK embassy worker World i'tws guardia ,. , http://www.guardlanco.uk/world/2009/aug/08/brltish-en'ibassy-worker-lr...
Staff and agencies
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 8 August 2009 14.21 BST
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British embassy employee Hossein Rassam, who is Iranian, at his trial in Tehran.
Photograph: All Raflei/AFP/Getty Images
A British embassy worker put on trial by the Iranian authorities was today reported to
have admitted that information collected by the embassy on the unrest after the
disputed presidential election was sent to Washington.
The Foreign Office expressed its “outrage” as Hossein Rassam, the embassy's chief
political analyst, appeared in court alongside Iranian moderates and a French citizen.
The official Iranian news agency IRNA quoted Rassam, who is charged with espionage,
as saying that information was handed over to the Americans. “Because the American
government lacks facilities to survey Iraii events and because of the close relations
between Washington and London, the British embassy in Tehran sent its collected vote
unrest details to Washington,” the Reuters news agency reported Rassam as telling the
court.
Reuters reported him as apologising to the Iranian nation and that he “asked the court
for forgiveness”.
Clotilde Reiss, a French citizen, was charged with “acting against national security by
taking part in unrest ... collecting news and information and sending pictures of the
unrest abroad”, Reuters reported. IRNA said she had confessed her “mistakes” and
asked for clemency.
Espionage and acting against national security are punishable by death under Iran's
Islamic law. Iran has accused the west of trying to overthrow the country's government
and encouraging the widespread protests that followed the election in June.
The opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi says the vote was rigged in favour of the
la
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Iran trial hears ‘apology' from UK embassy worker World news guardia... http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/08/british-embassy-worker-ir...
president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was re-elected.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said of Rassam's trial: “This is completely unacceptable
and directly contradicts assurances we had been given repeatedly by senior Iranian
officials.
“We deplore these trials and the so-called confessions of prisoners who have been
denied their basic human rights .
“Our ambassador in Tehran has demanded early clarification of the position from the
Iranian authorities. We will then decide on how to respond to this latest outrage.”
Riot police had earlier broken up protests by relatives outside the courtroom.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2009
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