Tehran Prosecutor Reiterates Allegations of 'Espionage' Against Ahmadreza Jalali

The Tehran Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office reiterated its allegations regarding 'espionage' and 'eight meetings' of Ahmadreza Jalali with Mossad agents, stating that it recently met with the accused. Mr. Jalali, who according to this prosecutor has a 'PhD in disaster management' and is a 'nuclear medicine expert,' was arrested in May 2016 while visiting Iran at the invitation of the University of Tehran. He was sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court for 'espionage and selling information to Israel,' a ruling that has been confirmed by the Iranian Supreme Court. This verdict has faced widespread protests from human rights organizations and experts at the United Nations. According to the Mizan news agency, affiliated with the judiciary, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, the Tehran Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor, on Sunday, December 24, without mentioning international protests regarding the ruling against Ahmadreza Jalali, listed a series of accusations against him. He stated that he recently met with this doctor in prison and that 'the accused confessed during this visit to eight meetings with foreign intelligence agents and received funds in this regard.' According to the Tehran prosecutor's statements, 'this prisoner, in addition to information related to the Ministry of Defense projects, provided names and information about several managers of the Atomic Energy Organization and the Ministry of Defense to Mossad officers.' Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi also claimed that Ahmadreza Jalali 'provided information regarding nuclear energy sites, names of senior managers of the Atomic Energy Organization, the Ministry of Defense, its affiliated organizations, and their plans and programs, as well as maps and building plans to Mossad agents.' He did not explain how this Iranian doctor managed to obtain the mentioned documents and information but indirectly accused his wife in this regard. The Tehran prosecutor stated that the accused's wife, Vida Mehran-Nia, 'was an expert at the Atomic Energy Organization who is currently suspended from service.' Ms. Mehran-Nia, who resides in Sweden, recently wrote a letter to Hassan Rouhani, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, requesting that a neutral committee be formed to investigate the 'violation of the citizenship rights' of Ahmadreza Jalali by the Ministry of Intelligence before it is too late. Referring to the broadcast of her husband's 'confessions' on Iranian state television, she stated that the Ministry of Intelligence interrogators threatened her in solitary confinement in Ward 209 with the abuse of their children to pressure her into producing a film with 'fabricated and false content' titled 'Axe on the Root.' Mr. Jalali, in an audio file confirmed by his family members, stated that his confessions were made under pressure and that he had no access to a lawyer or investigator. He strongly denied any collaboration, providing information about nuclear scientists, or other sensitive information to foreign security services and Mossad, stating that his 'rejection' response to 'foreign agents' for providing information was 'deleted' from the film broadcasted on Iranian television. Despite these denials, the Tehran prosecutor made additional accusations against this prisoner in his statements on Sunday, including stating that 'the accused confessed to contaminating systems, and based on existing evidence and statements from Ministry of Defense personnel at that time, a viral attack on the systems of this center occurred, and the accused admitted that the flash drives he possessed were connected to the systems of many targeted individuals under the guise of data transfer.' According to Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi's claims, Mr. Jalali 'also confessed to transferring information related to completely secret projects of the regime in research, military, defense, and nuclear fields in exchange for receiving funds along with citizenship rights for himself and his family in Sweden.' The Iranian Supreme Court confirmed this accused's death sentence while Ms. Mehran-Nia stated that she learned about the confirmation of this sentence on December 9 'without knowing which branch of the Supreme Court was specified and how this ruling was confirmed, as there is still no case number.' She stated that 'even the head of the Supreme Court did not sign this case,' telling Radio Farda that nonetheless, 'this ruling was confirmed through two members of the Supreme Court whose names were not even mentioned.'