Rejection of the Minister of Intelligence's Statements Regarding Nuclear Espionage by the Judiciary News Agency

The news agency affiliated with the Judiciary of the Islamic Republic published a text on Thursday, October 12, describing the statements of the Minister of Intelligence regarding the individual accused of nuclear espionage as 'strange' and entirely 'incorrect.' Mahmoud Alavi, Iran's Minister of Intelligence, stated on Wednesday, October 11, that Abdolrasoul Darya Isfahani, a member of Iran's nuclear negotiation team, had not committed espionage. However, he emphasized that Mr. Darya Isfahani had cooperated with the 'Counter-Espionage Department of the Ministry of Intelligence' in this regard. Meanwhile, according to Iranian Judiciary officials, Mr. Darya Isfahani has been sentenced to five years in prison for espionage and providing information to foreigners. In response to this indictment, the Minister of Intelligence told ISNA on Wednesday that 'the authority to determine issues related to espionage is the Counter-Espionage Department of the Ministry of Intelligence.' It seems that in response to this statement, the Judiciary news agency published a text on its website on Thursday, stating that Mr. Alavi's claims were 'incorrect.' In the text from the Mizan news agency, affiliated with the Judiciary, there was no mention of the names of these officials, nor any quotes from them. However, the text emphasizes that the court is 'the only competent authority for convicting individuals of espionage' and states that 'Darya Isfahani has been recognized as a spy by a definitive court ruling and has been convicted of the mentioned crime.' The Mizan news agency's text also states: 'No law has stipulated that the proof of espionage and its attribution to individuals rests with the Ministry of Intelligence; there may be cases where the court, contrary to the content of the Ministry of Intelligence's report, acquits or convicts individuals of espionage.' Furthermore, the issue of nuclear espionage is compared to the case of the 'espionage' of the daughter of the head of the Judiciary, stating that when the Minister of Intelligence denied Zahra Larijani's espionage, he was merely performing his 'organizational duty.' Mahmoud Alavi, the Minister of Intelligence, denied this report on Tuesday, October 3, stating that the Ministry had 'not observed any evidence of actions that even raised suspicion of espionage regarding any of the family members of Ayatollah Amoli Larijani, the head of the Judiciary.' However, as mentioned in the text, comparing these two cases has no justification. In early September 2016, media close to the Revolutionary Guards reported, citing the deputy representative of the Supreme Leader in the force, the arrest of a close member of Iran's nuclear negotiation team on charges of 'espionage for the enemy.' In subsequent reports, this individual was identified as 'Abdolrasoul Darya Isfahani,' but the Iranian Foreign Ministry denied the published reports in this regard, and the Minister of Intelligence also informed the Islamic Consultative Assembly that, according to the experts of the Ministry of Intelligence, Mr. Darya Isfahani had not engaged in espionage. Jawad Karimi Qodosi, in his questioning of the Minister of Intelligence, claimed that Abdolrasoul Darya Isfahani, while being part of the nuclear negotiation team and pursuing the lifting of banking sanctions, was also receiving '7500 pounds per month from the PW Institute in London to ensure the continuation of banking sanctions against Iran.' It is said that Mr. Darya Isfahani holds dual Iranian-Canadian citizenship and has been a non-executive member of the Asia Insurance Board and an advisor to the Governor of the Central Bank of Iran.