Theunis Bates
Contributor
A 55-year-old American woman detained by Iran on suspicion of spying had spying equipment hidden in her teeth, according to Iranian media.
The semiofficial Fars news agency identified the woman as Hall Talayan and reported that customs officers detained her in the Iranian-Armenian border city of Norduz, some 350 miles northwest of Tehran. Unnamed Iranian officials told the news agency that she had attempted to enter the country without a visa. (ABC News spelled her first name as Haley.)
Fars also claimed that the woman had been rigged with "espionage devices," including a microphone fitted in her teeth. Talayan allegedly pleaded with the border agents to not send her back to Armenia, as the country's security forces would kill her, according to CNN.
Web outlet Afkar News has published a photograph of the woman. There is no way to confirm the image's authenticity.
Since the U.S. has no diplomats in Iran, Washington has asked the Swiss Embassy in Tehran -- which represents American interests in the country -- to look into the case, ABC News reported. A State Department official told the broadcaster that the U.S. has not yet been able to confirm that Talayan is an American.
The Los Angeles Times reports that the woman is possibly of Armenian Christian descent and notes that the arrest was made as officials launched a crackdown on Iran's mostly Armenian Christian minority for alleged proselytizing. Morteza Tamadon, governor of Tehran province, announced Wednesday that his police had rounded up a number of Christian missionaries and intended to detain more in the coming days.
Christianity is recognized as a religion in Iran, but Christians -- like Jews and Zoroastrians -- are banned from converting Muslims to their faith.
"Just like the Taliban ... who have inserted themselves into Islam like a parasite, [the missionaries] have crafted a movement with Britain's backing in the name of Christianity," Tamadon was quoted as saying to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency by Agence France-Presse. "But their conspiracy was unveiled quickly, and the first blows were delivered to them."
Sponsored LinksIf the reports of Talayan's arrest are correct, she would by the fourth American arrested and accused of spying by Iran in the past two years. Security forces detained three American hikers in July 2009, accusing them of illegally crossing the border from northern Iraq. The U.S. government and the hikers' families say all three are innocent.
One of the captives, Sarah Shourd, was released on bail of $500,000 in September and returned to the U.S. Her two companions, Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer, remain in prison.
Iran has also been holding two German journalists, Marcus Hellwig and Jens Koch, since October on espionage charges. The men, believed to be employees of Germany's mass-circulation tabloid Bild am Sonntag, were arrested after interviewing the son and lawyer of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, who was convicted of adultery in 2006 and sentenced to death by stoning.NEWS SOURCE LINK AOL.COM THE IRANIAN BASED FARS NEWS AGENCY.
Contributor
A 55-year-old American woman detained by Iran on suspicion of spying had spying equipment hidden in her teeth, according to Iranian media.
The semiofficial Fars news agency identified the woman as Hall Talayan and reported that customs officers detained her in the Iranian-Armenian border city of Norduz, some 350 miles northwest of Tehran. Unnamed Iranian officials told the news agency that she had attempted to enter the country without a visa. (ABC News spelled her first name as Haley.)
Fars also claimed that the woman had been rigged with "espionage devices," including a microphone fitted in her teeth. Talayan allegedly pleaded with the border agents to not send her back to Armenia, as the country's security forces would kill her, according to CNN.
Web outlet Afkar News has published a photograph of the woman. There is no way to confirm the image's authenticity.
Since the U.S. has no diplomats in Iran, Washington has asked the Swiss Embassy in Tehran -- which represents American interests in the country -- to look into the case, ABC News reported. A State Department official told the broadcaster that the U.S. has not yet been able to confirm that Talayan is an American.
The Los Angeles Times reports that the woman is possibly of Armenian Christian descent and notes that the arrest was made as officials launched a crackdown on Iran's mostly Armenian Christian minority for alleged proselytizing. Morteza Tamadon, governor of Tehran province, announced Wednesday that his police had rounded up a number of Christian missionaries and intended to detain more in the coming days.
Christianity is recognized as a religion in Iran, but Christians -- like Jews and Zoroastrians -- are banned from converting Muslims to their faith.
"Just like the Taliban ... who have inserted themselves into Islam like a parasite, [the missionaries] have crafted a movement with Britain's backing in the name of Christianity," Tamadon was quoted as saying to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency by Agence France-Presse. "But their conspiracy was unveiled quickly, and the first blows were delivered to them."
Sponsored LinksIf the reports of Talayan's arrest are correct, she would by the fourth American arrested and accused of spying by Iran in the past two years. Security forces detained three American hikers in July 2009, accusing them of illegally crossing the border from northern Iraq. The U.S. government and the hikers' families say all three are innocent.
One of the captives, Sarah Shourd, was released on bail of $500,000 in September and returned to the U.S. Her two companions, Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer, remain in prison.
Iran has also been holding two German journalists, Marcus Hellwig and Jens Koch, since October on espionage charges. The men, believed to be employees of Germany's mass-circulation tabloid Bild am Sonntag, were arrested after interviewing the son and lawyer of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, who was convicted of adultery in 2006 and sentenced to death by stoning.NEWS SOURCE LINK AOL.COM THE IRANIAN BASED FARS NEWS AGENCY.
