Do More With Reuters
Partner Services

Iranian cleric says UK embassy staff face trial

Sat Jul 4, 2009 4:42am IST
 
Email | Print | | Single Page
[-] Text [+]

By Hashem Kalantari

TEHRAN (Reuters) - A senior Iranian cleric warned on Friday that detained British embassy staff would face trial for their alleged role in post-election unrest, and EU countries summoned Iranian envoys to protest against the detentions.

Britain said it was urgently seeking clarification from Iranian authorities over Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati's comments to worshippers during Friday prayers in Tehran.

"In these developments (the unrest) their embassy here maintained a presence," Jannati said. "Individuals were arrested and inevitably they will be tried as they have (made) confessions."

Jannati is a conservative who heads the Guardian Council, a powerful 12-member constitutional watchdog which upheld the official result of the June 12 presidential election -- won by hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad but rejected as a fraud by moderate challenger Mirhossein Mousavi.

The Guardian newspaper in London reported that one of the embassy officials had been formally charged and would stand trial for "acting against national security".

The newspaper, in its Saturday edition, said the 44-year-old Iranian, the embassy's chief political analyst, had been charged at Tehran's Evin Prison, citing his lawyer Abdolsamad Khorramshahi.

The post-election unrest has posed a dilemma for Western powers torn between sympathy for protesters and a desire to keep alive chances for dialogue on what they suspect is an Iranian nuclear weapons programme.

Iran denies it is seeking to make bombs, and the incoming head of the U.N.'s nuclear agency said on Friday he did not see any written evidence Iran is seeking nuclear weapons capability.  Continued...

REUTERS WEEKEND

Glory for Big B

Lifetime award for Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan.  Video 

'Trashy' Affair

Beijing man turns unwanted plastic bags into kites.  Video 

 
The new Droid phone, a Motorola Inc. and Verizon Wireless phone based on Google Inc's Android 2.0 system, is shown at a media event in New York October 28, 2009.REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Motorola Droid

Not the Droid you’re looking for?  Blog 

View of the Casa Poporului or House of the People, now the Parliament Palace, in downtown Bucharest November 6, 2009.  REUTERS/Bogdan Cristel
Travel Postcard

48 hours in Bucharest for architecture buffs.  Full Article 

 
Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown speaks, as finance minister Alistair Darling listens at the G20 Finance Ministers meeting in St. Andrews, Scotland. REUTERS/POOL New
UK joins G20 push for world levy on banks

Britain threw its weight behind proposals to impose a global levy on banks to fund future bailouts and called on the G20 to work toward a $100 billion deal to meet the cost of climate change.  Full Article | Full Coverage 

Photo
Pampering Pooches

Taipei's dogs are living it up at hotels, complete with VIP suites and pools.  Video | Full Article 

Photo
Miss England gives up crown over brawl reports Friday, 6 Nov 2009 

LONDON (Reuters) - Beauty pageant winner Miss England gave up her title on Friday after reports she had been involved in a nightclub brawl with another beauty queen.  Full Article