Couple charged over Tehran parties

Pair hosted events for foreign envoys

TEHRAN // A jailed US-Iranian and his wife have been formally charged with hosting parties in Tehran, while another couple were given the death penalty for running a cult, the Tehran prosecutor said yesterday.

No names were given, but the dual national and his wife are thought to be the owners of an art gallery in the capital that regularly hosted events for dignitaries and foreign diplomats before their arrest last summer.

The case “is related to a woman and man who provided alcoholic drinks, and encouraged corruption and debauchery by holding mixed parties”, said prosecutor Abbas Dolatabadi.

He said 4,000 litres of alcohol had been found in the basement of their building in northern Tehran.

The couple are members of the Zoroastrian religion, who are permitted to have alcohol for private use, but are banned from sharing it with Muslims.

Mr Dolatabadi also described a separate case of a couple who “by founding a cult and attracting individuals, were active in sexual deviation”. They were found guilty of “corruption on Earth”, a charge introduced after the 1979 revolution, which carries the death penalty. While moderate president Hassan Rouhani has made good on his vow to improve ties with the West through a deal to curb Iran’s nuclear programme, his promises to ease social restrictions at home have come to nothing.

In January, Tehran’s chief prosecutor said 70 spies were serving sentences in the city’s prisons – only a handful of whose identities have been made public.

Many are dual nationals who hold a European or US passport – undermining Mr Rouhani’s call for expat Iranians to return home and help rebuild the economy.

In October, US-Iranian businessman Siamak Namazi and his 80-year-old father Baquer, a former Unicef official, were given 10 years in prison for “espionage and collaboration with the American government”.

Britain has frequently opposed the detention of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was given a five-year sentence for her alleged involvement in 2009 protests, although exact charges have not been published.

She was separated from her two- year- old daughter when she was arrested last April, leaving the child stranded with her grandparents in Iran.