Iran arrests 13 Jews, accuses them of spying

JERUSALEM -- Radio Teheran announced Tuesday that 13 Iranian Jews, some of them religious leaders, are accused of spying for Israel.

The 13 men were rounded up several months ago in the cities of Shiraz and Isfahan. They and nine others arrested with them were charged with defrauding a Teheran antiques dealer by supplying him with fake Judaica. They are now charged with spying for Israel.

The authorities informed the families of the 13 men that they were being held in Shiraz jail but no information as to the whereabouts of the other nine was supplied to the families.

There are aproximmately 8,000 Jews in Shiraz and 2,000 Jews in Isfahan. Most members of the small community are entrepreneurs. They say the authorities generally leave them alone but Iran is extremely sensitive to any Jews talking of leaving for Israel.

Israeli Sephardic Chief Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi Doron has appealed to the international community -- including Pope John Paul II and King Hassan II of Morocco -- to intervene on behalf of the group of Iranian Jews in custody, accused of spying for the U.S. and Israel.

"I would also like to associate with the very strong words that the foreign minister (Joschke Fischer) used about the situation of the arrests in Iran of members of the Jewish community. We discussed it and we agreed that it is unacceptable," U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said in Cologne, where she is attending the G8 foreign ministers meeting.

"We are aware that 13 members of the Jewish community in Iran have been arrested and are expected to be charged with espionage for Israel and the United States. These arrests send a very disturbing signal. We call on the government of Iran to ensure no harm comes to these individuals and to release them," U.S. State Department spokesman James Foley said in a State Department briefing in Washington.

Menashe Amir, an Israeli expert on the Iranian Jewish community told Israel Radio that the families had tried to suppress any leaks to the press about the arrests.

"We knew all the time and we made every effort to keep it quiet," Amir said. "We hoped that if we keep it quiet, the prisoners would be freed."

Amir said that Iran is certainly concerned about international public opinion. There is a ongoing fight between the extremists and the moderates in Iran and the extremists are trying to strengthen their positions.