Broadcast of Recorded 'Confessions' of Ahmadreza Jalali, Doctor Sentenced to Death, by Iranian Television

The Islamic Republic claimed that Ahmadreza Jalali, a prisoner and researcher recently sentenced to death, played a role in transferring information about several Iranian nuclear researchers who were assassinated to Israel, following the broadcast of his recorded confessions. In the televised confessions prepared by the anti-espionage section of Iran's Ministry of Intelligence, Jalali, who has been in prison since spring 2016, states that while studying in a European country, he received a job offer from an individual introduced as Thomas, who sought to recruit him for the foreign intelligence service of that country in exchange for obtaining citizenship of a European country. Jalali also refers to his previous collaboration with projects in Iran's Ministry of Defense, suggesting that this may be why the alleged individual sought to recruit him. The video does not mention the name of the European country but displays an image of a Swedish residence card and a picture of Jalali in Rome, the capital of Italy. In the broadcast confessions, Jalali also mentions the names of Massoud Ali-Mohammadi and Majid Shahriari, two researchers who were killed in 2010 during heightened tensions over Iran's nuclear program due to explosions. The narrator of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence report claims that Jalali gathered information related to these two Iranian researchers. The narrator also claims that Jalali met with an alleged Mossad agent, the Israeli intelligence service, more than 50 times and received 2,000 euros for each meeting. Iran attributes the assassination of Massoud Ali-Mohammadi, Majid Shahriari, and several others involved in its nuclear program to Israel and has previously claimed that the perpetrators of these attacks were linked to Israel. The Islamic Republic previously executed Majid Jamali Fashi in May 2012 on similar charges related to the assassination of Massoud Ali-Mohammadi. It is unclear when these statements were recorded and whether they were made before or after Jalali's trial or sentencing. The televised confession segment is a common method used by the Islamic Republic to pressure political prisoners, and many organizations and human rights activists consider such confessions to be illegitimate. Earlier in 2012, when the Islamic Republic aired the televised confessions of 12 individuals accused of involvement in the assassination of its nuclear experts, Amnesty International strongly criticized this action, emphasizing that broadcasting such confessions violates Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and infringes on the rights of the accused and suspects. Furthermore, the statements made by Ahmadreza Jalali in this recorded video are similar to those reported by the Tehran prosecutor in November of this year from Jalali's court session presided over by Judge Abolqasem Salavati. At that time, AFP quoted Jalali's lawyers as saying that the evidence presented in the initial trial was 'obtained under pressure' and did 'not confirm the charges against him in any way.' Ahmadreza Jalali, who holds Swedish residency and has collaborated with the University of Piemonte in Italy, was arrested in May 2016 while visiting Iran at the invitation of Tehran University, but news of his arrest did not leak until December of that year. In December of last year, Jalali's wife first reported on her husband's imprisonment and stated that he had gone on a hunger strike. At that time, it was reported that Jalali had spent several months of his imprisonment in solitary confinement, and security agents had told his wife that it would be better for her to remain silent about Jalali's arrest. At that time, Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabai, Jalali's then-defense attorney, also briefly told Radio Farda that his client 'has a security case' but refrained from providing further details. Less than a week ago, Jalali's wife told Radio Farda that Iran's Supreme Court had upheld her husband's death sentence, but this ruling had not yet been communicated to them. The issuance of this ruling was met with strong reactions from Amnesty International, which stated that Iran's courts had 'undermined the rule of law' by upholding Jalali's death sentence. In late November, dozens of Nobel laureates in various fields sent a letter to Iran's representative at the United Nations, calling for the release of Ahmadreza Jalali. This letter was prepared by Richard Roberts, a British biologist and biochemist who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1993, and was signed by 74 Nobel laureates from various fields, including chemistry, medicine, economics, and peace.