Iran has sentenced two men to 10 years in jail for allegedly spying for foreign governments, the judiciary says.

Massud Mossaheb was convicted of spying for Israeli and German intelligence over his senior role in the Austrian-Iranian Society. The other man, Shahram Shirkhani, was accused of working for UK intelligence. Five other Iranians have been arrested on charges of espionage in recent months, a spokesman said. International rights organisations regularly raise issues about the justice system in Iran, with Human Rights Watch noting that the country “regularly fell short of providing fair trials and used confessions likely obtained under torture as evidence in court”. 

Speaking on Tuesday, judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said Mr Shirkhani had attempted to recruit others to Britain’s MI6 agency. He was also accused of passing information about Iranian banks and the defence ministry “to the enemy”. The length of his sentence was not confirmed by Mr Esmaili, but a state-run news outlet said Mr Shirkhani had received a 10-year sentence….[+]