German Businessman Back in Prison

Iranian police have rearrested a German businessman who was condemned to death for having illicit sex and later released on bail, a judicial spokesman said. Helmut Hofer, who was freed in April, was arrested and sent to prison in Tehran, the Islamic Republic News Agency quoted the official as saying. Hofer, 54, had been convicted of having sexual relations with an Iranian Muslim woman outside of marriage. He was rearrested “because of connections with some foreign suspicious elements and fear of escaping from Iran,” spokesman Saeed Nobari was quoted as saying by the agency, monitored in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.