Germans face spy charge for Iran stoning interview

The espionage charge for the two German citizens who came to Iran to stage propaganda and spying has been approved,Malekajdar Sharifi was quoted as saying by the semi-official Fars news agency.

Iranian state television aired an interview with the Germans on Monday in which they said they had been deceived by a female Iranian activist in Germany who had persuaded them to do the interview.

An international media watchdog on Tuesday strongly rejected spying accusations against two German reporters detained in Iran in connection with a highly publicized stoning case and called for their immediate release. Reporters Without Borders criticised Iran for showing the two men in a broadcast on state television Monday in which they appeared to admit mistakes,calling it “a particularly perfidious form of propaganda.”

The human rights activist accused by the two Germans said they were likely pressured by the authorities to make false accusations against her. Mina Ahadi said the journalists had asked her first to get them in touch with Ashtiani’s family.

Panahi on trial,rejects charges

ROME: Acclaimed movie maker Jafar Panahi has gone on trial in Iran,accused of making a film without permission and inciting opposition protests,according to a statement released in Italy. Panahi,50,irked Iranian authorities by supporting an opposition candidate in last year’s presidential election.In his statement to the court,Panahi said he had started making his latest film when his house was raided and his film collection deemed obscene and seized. “I do not comprehend the charge of obscenity directed at the classics of film history,nor do I understand the crime I am accused of,” Panahi said. “If these charges are true,you are putting not only us on trial but the socially conscious,humanistic and artistic Iranian cinema as well,” he said. Panahi also rejected the charge of incitement to protest.