Alwaght- Iran has sentenced a woman to 10 years in prison for spying for Britain, a spokesperson for the Islamic Republic's judiciary has said on Monday.
"An Iranian who was in charge of the Iran desk in the British Council and was cooperating with Britain’s intelligence agency … was sentenced to 10 years in prison after clear confessions,” Gholamhossein Esmaili told reporters at a press conference.
The British Council is a so-called cultural organization with branches around the world that is funded from the UK's foreign office. Iran shut down the British Council's offices in 2009 for their "illegal activities".
The spokesman did not identify the person who was sentenced but said she had been sentenced recently after she "made a straightforward confession". A friend of the sentenced woman has allegedly identified her as Aras Amiri to the Reuters news agency, while British newspaper The Telegraph claimed that one of Amiri's family members confirmed she was the person sentenced.
The 33-year -old Amiri lived in London for more than a decade and worked at the British Council on projects.
Esmaili said that during her confession, the suspect described how she had been recruited, telling investigators about her instructions from the "English security agency".
The spokesman added that she was "an Iranian student who wanted to live and work in the UK", was hired by the British Council and "repeatedly travelled to Iran under aliases... and made connections with artistic and theatre groups".
Her case has similarities to that of the Iranian-British dual national spy Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, arrested three years ago.
