[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 61 (Wednesday, May 17, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H3185]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              IRANIAN JEWS

  (Mr. DEUTSCH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DEUTSCH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to once again bring notice to 
this Congress of 13 Jews who are accused of spying in Iran, who have 
been imprisoned for over a year without formally being charged.
  Jews have been living in Iran for 2,700 years, the oldest Jewish 
Diaspora community and the biggest in the Middle East after Israel.
  At least 17 Jews have been executed in Iran since 1979, most of whom 
were accused of spying for Israel and the United States.
  These Jews who have been held have had their due process violated, 
even under Iranian law. Thirteen Jews have been denied the right to 
choose their own lawyers. Ten of the defendants imprisoned for over a 
year without legal representation had lawyers chosen for them by the 
court, after the court rejected the lawyers picked by the defendants' 
families. Three of the 13 have been released on bail but none of the 
others were allowed to consult attorneys until hours before the trial 
opened.
  Since that time, the lawyers have only had brief periods with their 
clients and only the most limited contact with their court-appointed 
attorneys. There has been a closed trial. No members of the Jewish 
community diplomats or human rights activists were permitted in the 
courtroom by order of the judge. The trial comes amid a power struggle 
between President Khatami and the hardliners opposed to his social and 
political reforms. This is about hardliners' opposition rather than the 
actual action of the defendants.

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