Iran jails 6 on charges of spying for US

Four Iranian nationals and two dual nationals were sentenced to 10 years in prison each over charges of espionage and collaboration with the US government, a media report said on Wednesday.

The Iranian judiciary has identified two of the convicts as Iranian-American Siamak Namazi and his 80-year-old father Baquer Namazi, and the others as Nazaar Zakaa, Farhad Abd-e Saleh, Kamran Qaderi and Alireza Omidvar, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Following the release of the news, the US State Department demanded the "immediate release" of the two Iranian-Americans by Iran.

Siamak Namazi was arrested in October 2015 and his father, Baqer Namazi, was detained in February this year.

Reportedly, Siamak formerly worked for the Sharjah-based Crescent Petroleum oil and gas company.

Baqer is a former Iranian provincial governor and served as a Unicef representative in Somalia, Kenya, Egypt and other countries.

--IANS

sm/dg