Iranian Jew 'has confessed to spying'

Court Officials claimed yesterday that one of the main defendants in the trial of 13 Iranian Jews accused of spying for Israel had confessed.

Hossein Ali Amiri, the head of the judiciary in Shiraz, southern Iran, where the trial is being held behind closed doors, said Hamid "Danny" Teflin confessed to spying for Israel in court and that his case was "finished".

Earlier, in the first foreign contact with the case, which is being closely watched by Western governments, a representative of the New York-based organisation, Human Rights Watch, was admitted to the court to speak to the judge and see one of the defendants. Prosecutors were laying out in detail the state's case against the Jewish defendants for the first time yesterday. The evidence is believed to rest mainly on confessions.

Charges were to be read out against three others: Shahrokh Paknahad, who taught Hebrew and religious lessons; Faramarz Kashi, a fellow teacher; and Ramin Nematizadeh, a merchant.

Esmail Nasseri, the lawyer for the defence, said the confessions were "irrelevant" and that the acts committed by his clients failed to meet the legal definition of spying under Iranian law, because the information they gathered was not classified. The trial continues.