An Iranian military lorry carries surface-to-air missiles past a portrait of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a parade. AFP
An Iranian military lorry carries surface-to-air missiles past a portrait of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a parade. AFP
An Iranian military lorry carries surface-to-air missiles past a portrait of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a parade. AFP
An Iranian military lorry carries surface-to-air missiles past a portrait of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a parade. AFP

Iran sentences one person to death for 'espionage'


Mina Aldroubi
  • English
  • Arabic

An Iranian court on Tuesday sentenced one person to death for spying for the US and jailed another three.

"Two people are sentenced to 10 years in prison for spying for the United States and another for spying for the United Kingdom," judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili told the news website Mizan.

Mr Esmaili said an appeal had been lodged against the verdict for the person sentenced to death.

He said the other two men, Ali Nefriyeh and Mohammad Ali Babapour, received final 10-year sentences for spying for the CIA and were ordered to repay $55,000 (Dh202,000) they received.

The man accused of spying for the UK was Mohammad Amin Nassab, Mr Esmaili said.

Three other people were sentenced to lengthy prison terms on spying charges in August.

The announcement comes amid heightened tension between Iran and western nations, including the US and UK.

US President Donald Trump withdrew from Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with major world powers and reimposed sanctions that have crippled Iran's economy.

In July, Iran said it arrested 17 CIA spies who sent Washington information on Iran's nuclear and military activities.

The arrests took place this year and those taken into custody worked on "sensitive sites" in the country's military and nuclear centres, Iranian officials said.

Some of them had been sentenced to death, officials said, but they did not say how many.

It was not immediately clear if any of the cases on Tuesday were linked to Iran's announcement in July.

Mr Esmaili also confirmed that the authorities had detained Iranian-British anthropologist Kameel Ahmady for suspected ties to institutes linked with foreign intelligence services.

Mr Ahmady's case is in the initial investigation phase, he said. This was the first time Iran had confirmed his arrest.

His wife, Shafagh Rahmani, and activists say he has been detained since August.

The confirmation came less than three months after the detention of Franco-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah was publicised.

"It is true that this person [Mr Ahmady] was arrested," Mr Esmaili said in Tehran.

French anthropologist Christian Bromberger wrote in August that Mr Ahmady was "recently arrested", in an article on The Conversation website.

Mr Ahmady is the author of a book called In the Name of Tradition: Female Genital Mutilation in Iran.

He was subject to a "preliminary investigation" on suspicion of "links to foreign countries and institutes affiliated with foreign services", Mr Esmaili said.

On July 15, the French authorities announced that Ms Adelkhah had been arrested in Iran.

A specialist in Shiite Islam, she is the research director at the Centre for International Studies and Research at Sciences Po university in Paris.

Mr Esmaili confirmed her arrest the next day.

She is the latest dual national to be detained in Iran. In August, Iran said it convicted Aras Amiri, who had worked for the British Council, on spying charges.

The British Council is a non-political organisation that works in education, arts and culture.

Ms Amiri has been in jail for the past year while her case was under investigation. She was sentenced to 10 years.

Another British-Iranian woman held in Tehran, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, is serving a five-year jail sentence for allegedly planning the “soft toppling” of Iran’s government while traveling with her young daughter.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who worked for the charity arm of Thomson Reuters, was arrested in April 2016. Her sentence has been widely criticised.

Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Our legal consultant

Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
RESULTS

Bantamweight: Victor Nunes (BRA) beat Azizbek Satibaldiev (KYG). Round 1 KO

Featherweight: Izzeddin Farhan (JOR) beat Ozodbek Azimov (UZB). Round 1 rear naked choke

Middleweight: Zaakir Badat (RSA) beat Ercin Sirin (TUR). Round 1 triangle choke

Featherweight: Ali Alqaisi (JOR) beat Furkatbek Yokubov (UZB). Round 1 TKO

Featherweight: Abu Muslim Alikhanov (RUS) beat Atabek Abdimitalipov (KYG). Unanimous decision

Catchweight 74kg: Mirafzal Akhtamov (UZB) beat Marcos Costa (BRA). Split decision

Welterweight: Andre Fialho (POR) beat Sang Hoon-yu (KOR). Round 1 TKO

Lightweight: John Mitchell (IRE) beat Arbi Emiev (RUS). Round 2 RSC (deep cuts)

Middleweight: Gianni Melillo (ITA) beat Mohammed Karaki (LEB)

Welterweight: Handesson Ferreira (BRA) beat Amiran Gogoladze (GEO). Unanimous decision

Flyweight (Female): Carolina Jimenez (VEN) beat Lucrezia Ria (ITA), Round 1 rear naked choke

Welterweight: Daniel Skibinski (POL) beat Acoidan Duque (ESP). Round 3 TKO

Lightweight: Martun Mezhlumyan (ARM) beat Attila Korkmaz (TUR). Unanimous decision

Bantamweight: Ray Borg (USA) beat Jesse Arnett (CAN). Unanimous decision

How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE

When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.

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Empire of Enchantment: The Story of Indian Magic

John Zubrzycki, Hurst Publishers

Volvo ES90 Specs

Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)

Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp

Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm

On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region

Price: Exact regional pricing TBA

UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai

Six large-scale objects on show
  • Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
  • The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
  • A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
  • Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
  • A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
  • Torrijos Palace dome
if you go

The flights 

Etihad and Emirates fly direct to Kolkata from Dh1,504 and Dh1,450 return including taxes, respectively. The flight takes four hours 30 minutes outbound and 5 hours 30 minute returning. 

The trains

Numerous trains link Kolkata and Murshidabad but the daily early morning Hazarduari Express (3’ 52”) is the fastest and most convenient; this service also stops in Plassey. The return train departs Murshidabad late afternoon. Though just about feasible as a day trip, staying overnight is recommended.

The hotels

Mursidabad’s hotels are less than modest but Berhampore, 11km south, offers more accommodation and facilities (and the Hazarduari Express also pauses here). Try Hotel The Fame, with an array of rooms from doubles at Rs1,596/Dh90 to a ‘grand presidential suite’ at Rs7,854/Dh443.

PROFILE OF STARZPLAY

Date started: 2014

Founders: Maaz Sheikh, Danny Bates

Based: Dubai, UAE

Sector: Entertainment/Streaming Video On Demand

Number of employees: 125

Investors/Investment amount: $125 million. Major investors include Starz/Lionsgate, State Street, SEQ and Delta Partners

The specs
 
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
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Business Insights
  • As per the document, there are six filing options, including choosing to report on a realisation basis and transitional rules for pre-tax period gains or losses. 
  • SMEs with revenue below Dh3 million per annum can opt for transitional relief until 2026, treating them as having no taxable income. 
  • Larger entities have specific provisions for asset and liability movements, business restructuring, and handling foreign permanent establishments.
Bundesliga fixtures

Saturday, May 16 (kick-offs UAE time)

Borussia Dortmund v Schalke (4.30pm) 

RB Leipzig v Freiburg (4.30pm) 

Hoffenheim v Hertha Berlin (4.30pm) 

Fortuna Dusseldorf v Paderborn  (4.30pm) 

Augsburg v Wolfsburg (4.30pm) 

Eintracht Frankfurt v Borussia Monchengladbach (7.30pm)

Sunday, May 17

Cologne v Mainz (4.30pm),

Union Berlin v Bayern Munich (7pm)

Monday, May 18

Werder Bremen v Bayer Leverkusen (9.30pm)

SPECS

Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000)
On sale: Now

Defence review at a glance

• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”

• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems

• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.

• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%

• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade

• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels

Specs

Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric

Range: Up to 610km

Power: 905hp

Torque: 985Nm

Price: From Dh439,000

Available: Now

1971: The Year The Music Changed Everything

Director: Asif Kapadia

4/5