British woman on trial in Iran for attending protests

Telegraph

A 24-year-old British woman has appeared in an Iranian court on charges of "moral corruption" after she participated in anti-government protests last December.

The unidentified woman, who holds both British and Iranian passports, admitted that she had attended an opposition demonstration, called to coincide with the Shia religious festival of Ashura, on Dec 27.

But she defiantly told the court that she saw nothing criminal about her actions

"I do not think taking to the streets means spreading corruption," she was quoted as saying by Iranian news agencies.
The woman was among 16 defendants on trial for joining the protests, during which at least eight people were killed in clashes with police.
It was the worst violence since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's president, won re-election last June in a poll whose disputed income sparked months of unrest in the Islamic state.
According to reports, the woman was born in Manchester to a British mother who later converted to Islam.
Prosecutors claimed that she had sent at least 40 text messages from her mobile telephone calling on friends to attend the December protests.
They also said she had been charged with espionage, immoral relations with foreigners, drinking alcohol and insulting high-ranking officials.
The prosecutors attempted to link her to two German diplomats who have been identified by Iran as spies with the codenames of "Yogi" and "Ingo".
Iran maintains the two, who have now left the country, orchestrated the December protests as part of a German plot to bring down the regime.
The woman was regularly seen at parties held by the two diplomats, the prosecutors alleged, where she purportedly engaged in unseemly behaviour.
Five of the other defendants were told they faced the death sentence after they were charged with being "enemies of God".
Last week Iran hanged two men who were accused of joining anti-government demonstrations and several others are awaiting execution.
According to observers, the executions mark a new phase in the repression of the opposition that is primarily intended to deter future protests.
Both Mr Ahmadinejad's government and the inner circle of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, are increasingly anxious about a new round of opposition protests called for Feb 11, when Iran marks the 31st anniversary of its Islamic Revolution.
Sensing the regime's growing unpopularity following the passage of unpopular economic legislation, opposition leaders have issued unusually bold calls to their followers to turn out in force.
Some Iranian exiles claim next week's showdown could even mark the beginning of the end for the Ahmadinejad government.