Report Says Iran Denies Jews’ Appeal

Iran’s Supreme Court has denied an appeal from 10 Iranian Jews jailed after being convicted of spying for Israel, the state IRNA news agency reported Wednesday.

It quoted a statement by the prosecutor’s office as saying that the Supreme Court decided not to hear the case after three judges studied the appeal and found it to have no legal basis.

In September, an appeals court in the southern city of Shiraz had reduced the Jews’ sentences to between two and nine years from their original four to 13.

Two Muslim collaborators, a military officer and a defense contractor, have also received prison sentences in the case.

Judiciary spokesman Hossein Mir-Mohammed Sadeqi was quoted by the daily Tehran Times on Wednesday as saying that the judiciary had not received any requests for pardon from the 10.

A Jewish member of Iran’s parliament had said the 10 had sought pardon from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the nation’s supreme leader, who has the power under the constitution to pardon convicts.