| http://www.defencenews.com/?action=display&article=7360127&
template=defence/headlines.txt&index=recent Iran Says It Hanged CIA Spy The Associated Press, Wed 23 May 2001 TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An Iranian man has been executed on charges of spying for the CIA, state-run Tehran radio reported Wednesday. It said Mohammad Reza Pedram was hanged Sunday at Tehran's Evin Prison, but gave few other details. The Los Angeles Times on Wednesday reported that Pedram, 56, had lived in Reseda, Calif., where he worked for a federally funded program that helps refugees find jobs. His family later moved to Illinois, the paper said. It quoted his family as saying Pedram vanished during a 1996 trip to Iran to visit his dying father. Pedram was hanged after his death sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court, the radio quoted a statement by the Judicial Organization of the Armed Forces as saying. ``Pedram had confessed to having extensive cooperation with and passing state secrets to the CIA,'' the radio quoted the statement as saying. In Tehran, judicial authorities would not take calls from The Associated Press. They routinely refuse to speak to reporters. The official Islamic Republic News Agency, meanwhile, said that Pedram was hired by the Central Intelligence Agency after fleeing Iran in 1986 and had passed on state secrets during the 1980-88 war with Iraq. IRNA said he was arrested in 1996 when he was caught with a fake passport. Iran occasionally reports the arrests and trials of people who were accused of spying for Israel, Iraq or the United States. The United States severed ties with Iran after Muslim militants stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. |
