Spy Suspects Won’t Face Death, Iran Says, as 2 More Confess

None of the 13 Iranian Jews charged with spying for Israel faces the death penalty, the head of the local judiciary said Monday, addressing one of the biggest fears of human rights groups and Western governments.

Hossein Ali Amiri told a news briefing after the day’s closed-door hearing in the southern city of Shiraz that the suspects had not been charged under Iran’s Islamic law with mohareb, or taking up arms against God and the state.

“No one has been indicted on mohareb, and it is mohareb that carries the death penalty,” Amiri said.

That appeared to leave charges that carry up to 10 years in prison for each offense.

The latest hearing in the trial adjourned with two more admissions of guilt, said Esmail Naseri, lawyer for three of the defendants and spokesman of the defense team.

Farhad Seleh, 40, a textile shopkeeper and religion teacher, and Asher Zadmehr, 54, a university language professor, pleaded guilty to spying for Israel, raising the total number of confessions so far to eight, Naseri said.

Only one defendant, Farzad Kashi, has denied the charges.

Amiri said both Seleh and Zadmehr had confessed to collecting information and photographs of military facilities and other sensitive installations.

Before the hearing began, the defense team threatened to sue “all those concerned” if any more of their clients’ confessions were shown on television without permission.

Iranian state television has broadcast confessions of two defendants who said separately that they were trained and paid by Israel to gather secrets in Iran.

The month-old trial has generated concern in the West, and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has warned that the outcome could have international repercussions. Defense lawyers question the fairness of the Revolutionary Court, where the judge is also the prosecutor and there is no jury.

Amiri’s comments were the first official confirmation that the suspects were no longer facing execution--as called for by some leading hard-line clerics.

Israel has denied that any of the defendants were spies.