Iran begins trial of Baha'is on spying, Israel links

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Seven members of the Baha'i faith went on trial in Iran on Tuesday on charges of spying and collaborating with Israel in an effort to damage national security, Iranian media reported.

Iran had previously said the group, arrested in 2008, had received orders from Israel to take measures against the Islamic system.

Iran and Israel have been enemies since Iran's Islamic revolution in 1979 and analysts say Israel could carry out military strikes against Iranian nuclear sites over fears that its energy programme could be used to produce atomic weapons. Israel is believed to possess a nuclear arsenal.

The Baha'i International Community, which represents the faith worldwide, has denied the charges against the group, saying they were members of a committee that tends to the needs of minority Baha'is in Iran.

Students news agency ISNA said the court listed the charges against the Baha'is, whom it did not identify, as including espionage, gathering classified information, communicating news to foreign embassies, acting against domestic security, setting up illegal organisations and collaboration with Israel.

Such espionage charges could carry the death sentence.

"The charge against the seven Baha'is is acting against national security," Tehran general prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.

The trial was postponed in August at the request of defence lawyers, who said they needed more time to prepare.

Exiled Baha'i leaders allege hundreds of followers have been jailed and executed in Iran since 1979. The government denies it has detained or executed people for their religion.

The Baha'i faith was founded by Shi'ite Muslim clergymen in Iran in the 19th century and more than 300,000 live in the Islamic state. Iran's Shi'ite religious establishment considers the faith a heretical offshoot of Islam.

Another trial of an unspecified number of Baha'is is expected to begin this week over anti-government protests on Ashura, a day of ritual Shi'ite mourning that fell on Dec. 27.

Dolatabadi said the Baha'is played a significant role in organising riots.

Authorities are facing the country's biggest internal crisis since 1979 as opposition supporters have taken to the streets to protest the re-election in June of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Defeated candidates say the vote was rigged. The government denies this.

(Editing by Ralph Boulton)