Arrest of Six Individuals in Tabriz on Charges of Espionage 'For the Enemies of the Regime'

Hekmat Ali Mozaffari, the Chief Justice of East Azerbaijan, announced on Thursday, July 3, the arrest of six individuals 'from a separatist group' on charges of espionage. According to the website 'Javan Online', Mozaffari described the detainees as members of a 'band'. He stated that these six individuals, who were part of the 'Gamo separatist group', had collected classified military and economic documents of the country and provided them to 'the enemies of the regime'. Mozaffari did not provide further details about the detainees and the activities of this group. It is also unclear what information these individuals were providing, to whom, or which country they were accessing military information from. Although the detainees have been identified in Iranian media reports as members of a 'spy band' called 'Gamo', it seems that the intended group may actually be 'Gamoh', which stands for 'Southern Azerbaijan National Awakening Movement', a political group with separatist tendencies. However, Nagh Mahmoudi, a former lawyer for political and civil prisoners currently residing in Germany, stated in an interview with Radio Farda that the newly established Gamo has no connection to Gamoh and stands for the 'National Army of Southern Azerbaijan'. He mentioned that the Chief Justice of East Azerbaijan did not refer to the type or quality of the information transferred, only mentioning the provision of information to the enemies of the regime. 'Espionage is only established when classified information is delivered to a foreign country under specific conditions.' Over the past two years, especially the Ministry of Intelligence of the Islamic Republic has reported the arrest of dozens of individuals on charges of espionage for foreign countries. However, these news reports regarding the arrests of individuals on espionage charges are often not followed by supplementary reports, and there is no information published about the fate of these individuals or whether they are being tried or not. In this context, the Ministry of Intelligence reported the 'destruction of a terrorist network intending to carry out suicide operations in Tehran' and the neutralization of several bombing operations in Iran, with some members of the sabotage teams in 'Khuzestan' killed. Judicial officials reported the arrest of several sabotage and espionage groups in Tabriz and Khuzestan.