By IANS,
Tehran : An Iranian court has sentenced a CIA “spy”, Amir Hekmati, to death, Iran’s Fars news agency reported Monday.
Hekmati was charged with “cooperating with hostile government of the US, membership in the CIA and an attempt to accuse Iran of terrorism”, Xinhua reported citing the media report.
In the court session, Hekmati confessed that he intended to penetrate Iran’s intelligence systems to help the CIA and said he was deceived by the US intelligence agency.
The news agency, however, did not report when the court had held its session to hear the defendant.
On Dec 17, Iran’s Intelligence Ministry announced having arrested a US spy in the country, describing him to be a CIA analyst tasked with infiltrating Iran’s intelligence apparatus.
On Dec 20, a US government official denied that the arrested US citizen was a spy.
Asked if the US government believed that Hekmati had been falsely accused of espionage, State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said “we do”.