By NNN-Bernama
Melbourne : Iranian students at Australian universities are being closely watched by national security authorities amid fears that some could ofthem be working as spies for Tehran, according to The Australian newspaper.
Some of the students suspected of espionage in Sydney and Melbourne are under electronic surveillance, according to daily which added that concerns about the presence of Iranian spies in Australian universities were reportedly raised by information from local Iranian leaders and calls to the National Security Hotline.
State and federal authorities are believed to be keeping an especially close watch on Iranian students who are interested in becoming local residents or Australian citizens.
The newspaper reports that the students are being used to spy on local community members who are outspoken against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The Iranian government is believed to be monitoring those opposed to Ahmadinejad for fear they could be providing financial support to groups fighting against his regime, it adds.
In five years, the number of Iranian students in Australia has risen five-fold. Most Iranians in Australian universities are studying engineering and surveying.
According to Persian Cultural Foundation of Australia president Homer Abramian, Iran has been both sending spies to Australia to pretend to be students, and paying real students to report back on local affairs.
“The majority of the students are very nice people and from very good families … but we know that some of them are spies and they are not here just for education,” Abramian said.
Iranian youth leader Nosrat Hosseini told the newspaper she believed some international Iranian students in Melbourne were spying on local community members who are opposed to the Tehran government.
The Melbourne-based secretary of the Iranian Women’s Association said the students often used the Faulkner Mosque, a Shia place of worship in Melbourne’s north, as an entry point to community affairs and functions.
She said the students were often interested in finding out information about the general sentiment held by the local community towards the Iranian government. “They also want to see whether there are anti-Iranian government campaigns that people are involved in … and about how much they know about human rights violations in Iran,” she is quoted as saying.
Abramian said some Australians of Iranian heritage, who were predominantly hostile to the Iranian government, also feared expressing their opposition to the Islamic republic during community gatherings.
There are 1,421 Iranian students studying in Australian universities and other educational institutions this year, up from 307 in 2002, according to the Department of Education. Most are full-fee-paying students, while a few are in Australia on Iranian government scholarships.