Iran’s chief of police announced that in Khuzestan several people have been arrested and accused of “spying for foreign intelligence services.”

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, quoting ISNA, several people were arrested and accused of “spying for foreign intelligence services” in Khuzestan province.

Without getting into the details and mentioning the names, the chief of police stated: “in addition to having a  relationship with foreign intelligence services and receiving the money to carry out sabotage operations and terror attack against influential figures with explosives, the individuals arrested had carried out arson attacks on houses and public place across the province.”

Although the prosecution of individuals for espionage is not considered a violation of human rights, there are concerns about the validity of these allegations due to the frequent use of such accusations by the regime in order to suppress its political dissidents and due to the ambiguities in legal proceedings and the lack of transparency about these legal cases.