300 Join in Demand That Iran Release 13 Jews It Has Accused of Spying

It is a cry as old as the Book of Exodus and as urgent as the plight of 13 Iranian Jews facing what U.S. and Israeli officials call “baseless” espionage charges: “Let my people go.”

From a small courtyard commemorating the Holocaust, the cry arose again Sunday as more than 300 Jews gathered for an emergency vigil at the Simon Wiesenthal Center to lend their voices to the demand that Iran free 13 men accused of spying for the U.S. and Israel.

“If you have evidence, then let the world see it in an open hearing, and let those accused fully defend themselves, as is their right in every country,” said the center’s dean and founder, Rabbi Marvin Hier, addressing judicial authorities in Iran.

“But if you have no evidence, as we suspect is the case, then send them home to their families and end the suffering now,” Hier said.

The trial, which is closed to the public, was adjourned until May 1 shortly after it began Thursday in Shiraz, about 420 miles south of Tehran.

A senior official said four men had confessed.

Before Sunday’s vigil, however, Sam Kermanian, of the Iranian-American Jewish Federation, questioned reports that anyone had confessed.

“Defense attorneys said no one had confessed,” he said, adding: “This is a badly choreographed show.”

U.S. and Israeli officials say charges that the Jews spied for their countries are baseless.

Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) said Sunday that many Americans “may not understand how absurd these charges are.”

Sherman noted that no Jew in Iran is allowed near anything of any significance. If America is going to recruit spies, he said, it won’t be from “a small group excluded from anything relevant.”

Congress will consider a resolution next month calling for the immediate release of the men, Sherman said, adding that he hoped they would be freed before the resolution comes up for a vote.

Little is known about specific allegations against the defendants. Several groups of Jews and seven Muslims were arrested in February 1999, and reports later leaked to Iranian media accused those arrested of spying. One former Iranian judicial official suggested that they would be executed.

Knowledgeable diplomats say the case may have begun at a fairly low level by intelligence officers in Shiraz. Rumors have circulated that the initial infraction was an e-mail exchange with someone in Israel.

Iran does not recognize Israel, and contact with Israelis is prohibited.

Sunday’s vigil came as Jews around the world were preparing to observe Passover, the festival of deliverance from bondage in Egypt, on Wednesday.

Passover is “a time of questions,” Sinai Temple Senior Rabbi David Wolpe said, challenging those at the vigil.

“It is too easy to demand of others and not to demand of ourselves,” Wolpe said. “When we sit around the Seder table Wednesday night, will the question have the poignancy of reminding us that not all of our people are free?”

Wolpe pointedly noted that Jews “are not allowed to be complacent about others.”

“One thing I know about all of you is that your ancestors did not come from here,” he said. “They came from places where what is happening in Shiraz was no stranger to them.”

If those at the vigil forget what got them here--if they do not “grab your fellow Jews by the lapel” and shake them from complacency--”then you’ve failed,” Wolpe said.

“This is the moment,” he said. “Maybe this is why you’re here--to ensure that the promise of Pesach [Passover] will come true, that they will go from slavery to freedom, from helplessness and hopelessness to joy.”