Lawyer: Iran sentences dual national academic to 6 years

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Lawyer: Iran sentences dual national academic to 6 years

2020-05-16 23:13 Last Updated At：23:30

An Iranian court has sentenced a prominent researcher with dual French-Iranian citizenship to six years in prison on security charges, her lawyer said Saturday.

Fariba Adelkhah was sentenced to five years for “gathering and collusion” against the country’s security and one year for “spreading propaganda” against the Islamic system, her lawyer, Saeed Dehghan, told The Associated Press.

Dehghan said Adelkhah will appeal the ruling.

Iran, which doesn’t recognize dual nationality for its citizens, has a track record of detaining dual nationals or those with ties to the West.

Iranian officials disclosed in July that Adelkhah had been arrested on espionage charges. Those charges were later dropped but security-related charges remained against her.

Adelkhah and her French fellow researcher Roland Marchal were in Iran’s Evin Prison since last year but authorities released Marchal in March in an apparent prisoner swap for Iranian Jalal Ruhollahnejad, who had been held in France.

Dehghan said Adelkhah has been in high spirits since the release of Marchal. He said she is working as a librarian in the women’s ward of the prison and teaching French to female prisoners.

In December, Adelkhah, an anthropologist who often traveled to Iran to do research, went on a hunger strike to protest her and Marchal’s detention.

“Despite ending her 50-day hunger strike, she is still suffering from its consequences like damage to her kidneys,“ said Dehghan.

Marchal was arrested when he tried to visit Adelkhah, French officials revealed in October. He was held in a men’s ward in Evin on charges of spreading propaganda.

In December, France summoned the Iranian ambassador to Paris to say it considered the months-long detention of Adelkhah and Marchal “unacceptable” and sought permission for consular officials to visit them.

The Latest | Israeli military orders evacuation of parts of Rafah ahead of possible ground invasion

2024-05-06 19:17 Last Updated At：19:21

Israel's military has ordered tens of thousands of people in the southern Gaza city of Rafah to begin evacuating, signaling that a long-promised ground invasion could be imminent.

The announcement on Monday complicated last-ditch efforts by international mediators to broker a cease-fire. Hamas and Qatar, a key mediator, have warned that an invasion of Rafah could derail the talks.

Israel has described Rafah as the last significant Hamas stronghold after seven months of war, and its leaders have repeatedly said they need to carry out a ground invasion to defeat the Islamic militant group.

Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an army spokesman, said some 100,000 people were being ordered to move to a nearby Israel-declared humanitarian zone called Muwasi. He said Israel was preparing a “limited scope operation” and would not say whether this was the beginning of a broader invasion of the city.

The Israel-Hamas war has driven around 80% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million from their homes and caused vast destruction in several towns and cities. The death toll in Gaza has soared to more than 34,500 people, according to local health officials.

The war began Oct. 7 when Hamas attacked southern Israel, abducting about 250 people and killing around 1,200, mostly civilians. Israel says militants still hold around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.

Currently:

— Israeli army tells Palestinians to evacuate parts of Rafah ahead of an expected assault

— Hamas says latest cease-fire talks have ended. Israel vows military operation in ‘very near future’

— Israel orders Al Jazeera to close its local operation and seizes some of its equipment

— Netanyahu uses Holocaust ceremony to brush off international pressure against Gaza offensive

— Anti-war protesters leave USC after police arrive, while Northeastern ceremony proceeds calmly

— Israeli strike kills 4 civilians in southern Lebanon, state media says

Follow AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Here's the latest:

JERUSALEM — The Norwegian Refugee Council has condemned the Israeli army’s “forced, unlawful” evacuation order in Rafah, saying that it could lead to “the deadliest phase of this conflict.”

Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the international nonprofit organization, says there are not enough resources in Israel’s self-declared Muwasi humanitarian zone, where the army instructed some 100,000 people in Rafah to relocate on Monday.

“The area is already overstretched and devoid of vital services,” Egeland said.

He says his organization and other international humanitarian groups are struggling to provide essential support for Palestinians in Gaza. More than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents are currently located in Rafah, while Israel’s government has vowed to press on with a military operation in Gaza’s southernmost city.

JERUSALEM -- The Israeli army says a fourth soldier has died from wounds sustained in a Hamas rocket attack on the border with Gaza.

Hamas launched at least 10 rockets toward soldiers positioned on the border Sunday, killing three other soldiers.

The attack occurred near Kerem Shalom, a major crossing point for international aid being delivered to Gaza, and came as Israel is preparing a possible invasion into the nearby Palestinian city of Rafah.

Israel has shuttered Kerem Shalom indefinitely, and on Monday, it began ordering civilians to evacuate parts of eastern Rafah, near the border, ahead of an expected military operation.

RAFAH, Gaza Strip -- The United Nations agency serving Palestinian refugees says it will not comply with an Israeli military order to evacuate parts of the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

Juliette Touma, communications director for UNRWA, says the agency has not evacuated the area and has no plans to do so. She says it has thousands of employees in the city.

“UNRWA will not take part in any forced evacuation of the population in Rafah or elsewhere in Gaza,” she said. “We are committed to staying and delivering humanitarian assistance.” She called for a cease-fire.

Relations between Israel and UNRWA have long been strained and further deteriorated during the seven-month war.

Israel has accused UNRWA of collaborating with the Hamas militant group and called for the agency’s closure.

UNRWA, the largest international provider of aid and services in Gaza, denies the accusations.

BERLIN — Germany’s Foreign Office on Monday condemned the shutdown of Qatar’s Al Jazeera satellite news network in Israel.

The Foreign Office wrote on X that “a free and diverse press landscape is the cornerstone of every liberal democracy. In times of conflict especially, it is of crucial importance to protect the freedom of the press.”

“The decision of the Israeli authorities to shut down Al Jazeera in Israel is the wrong signal,” the ministry said.

Germany has for decades been a staunch supporter of Israel. Berlin, however, has gradually shifted its tone as civilian casualties in Gaza have soared, becoming increasingly critical of the humanitarian situation in Gaza and speaking out against a ground offensive in Rafah.

JERUSALEM — The Israeli army has ordered tens of thousands of people in the southern Gaza city of Rafah to begin evacuating, signaling that a long-promised ground invasion could be imminent.

The announcement on Monday complicated last-ditch efforts by international mediators, including the director of the CIA, to broker a cease-fire. Hamas and Qatar, a key mediator, have warned that an invasion of Rafah could derail the talks.

BEIRUT — An Israeli airstrike on northeastern Lebanon wounded three people and destroyed a building, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency says.

The strike on the village of Safri early Monday targeted a factory in the eastern Bekaa Valley, the agency said without giving further details.

The Israeli military said its fighter jets struck a Hezbollah military structure in Safri.

Monday’s strike came after a tense day along the Lebanon-Israel border during which an Israeli airstrike on a village near the border killed four Lebanese civilians.

The militant Hezbollah group said it fired dozens of rockets in retaliation toward northern Israel.

The Lebanon-Israel border has seen almost daily exchange of fire since a day after the Israel-Hamas war started on Oct. 7.

Israeli strikes have killed more than 350 people in Lebanon, most of them fighters with Hezbollah and allied groups but also including more than 50 civilians. In Israel, strikes from Lebanon have killed at least 10 civilians and 12 soldiers.