The Star Online: World Updates |
| Iran police arrest foreign woman for spying Posted: 08 Jan 2011 06:17 AM PST TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian border police have arrested a foreign woman on suspicion of spying, a police official told state radio on Saturday. The semi-official Fars new agency initially quoted Ahmad Geravand, deputy commander of state border police, as telling a news conference his guards had seized a "female American spy", but Geravand later said her nationality was not clear. The woman was captured at Jolfa, on Iran's northern border with Azerbaijan, close to Armenia. Fars said she had entered from Armenia. "On Jan. 5 a woman with foreign citizenship who was at the Jolfa border filming police stations and all the border traffic with advanced cameras was arrested by Jolfa border forces," Geravand told national radio in an interview. "She once said she was an American citizen but at other times she said she was a Swiss citizen. She mentioned the names of different countries," he said. The ISNA news agency quoted Geravand as saying the woman was "on a mission for the Americans to film the borders" and had been turned over to the intelligence ministry. Initial reports of the arrest emerged earlier this week. Fars said on Thursday that a 55-year-old U.S. woman identified as Hall Talayan had been arrested trying to cross the border without a visa, and espionage equipment was found in her teeth. Later that day, however, Iran's Arabic language television al-Alam said the arrest report was false. Saturday's news reports gave Talayan's age as 34. The arrest happened on Wednesday, they said. The news comes at a time of high tension between Tehran and Washington, which have been in a long-running dispute over Iran's nuclear programme. The two countries have had no diplomatic relations since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution but both will be represented at talks in Istanbul later this month which Western countries hope will address the nuclear stand-off. Three Americans -- two men and a woman -- were arrested in July 2009 near the Iran-Iraq border on suspicion of spying. The woman, Sarah Shourd, was released on bail a of $500,000 in September and returned to the United States. She has said the three of them strayed across the border while hiking in Iraq. Her two companions remain in jail awaiting trial, which was postponed in November due to Shourd's absence. (Writing by Robin Pomeroy; Editing by Peter Graff) Copyright © 2011 Reuters |
| U.S. woman arrested in Iran for spying - agency Posted: 08 Jan 2011 05:45 AM PST TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian border police said on Saturday they had arrested an American woman on suspicion of spying, Iranian news agencies reported on Saturday, two days after state-run TV denied a similar story. "The female American spy was arrested at the Jolfa border," the semi-official Fars news agency quoted Ahmad Geravand, deputy commander of state border police, as telling a news conference. Jolfa is on the border with Azerbaijan and also close to Armenian territory. Fars said she entered from Armenia. The ISNA news agency quoted Geravand as saying: "We arrested a woman who was on a mission for the Americans to film the borders with equipment, so we arrested her at the Jolfa border and she was then handed to the intelligence ministry." The news comes at a time of high tension between Tehran and Washington, which have been in a long-running dispute over Iran's nuclear programme. The two countries have had no diplomatic relations since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution but both will be represented at talks in Istanbul later this month which Western countries hope will address the nuclear stand-off. On Thursday, daily newspaper Iran said a 55-year-old U.S. woman identified as Hall Talayan had been arrested trying to cross the border without a visa, a report which Iran's Arabic language television al-Alam said was false. Saturday's news reports gave Talayan's age as 34. The arrest happened on Wednesday, they said. Three Americans -- two men and a woman -- were arrested in July 2009 near the Iran-Iraq border on suspicion of spying. The woman, Sarah Shourd, was released on bail a of $500,000 in September and returned to the United States. She has said the three of them strayed across the border while hiking in Iraq. Her two companions remain in jail awaiting trial, which was postponed in November due to Shourd's absence. (Reporting by Mitra Amiri; Writing by Robin Pomeroy) Copyright © 2011 Reuters |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Star Online: World Updates To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
Tiada ulasan:
Catat Ulasan