TUESDAY 20 AUGUST 2019Iran upholds sentence against
British ‘spy’
Aras Amiri is now set to serve 10-year term (Mohsen Omrani)
NEGAR MORTAZAVI
An Iranian court has dashed hopes that the 10-year sentence given to a British Council worker on spying
charges could be reduced. Aras Amiri, a London-based Iranian citizen, was detained in March 2018 while
travelling to Tehran to visit her sick grandmother. The 33-year-old had been working on cultural exchanges
between Iran and the UK, and is also an art student at Kingston University.
Ms Amiri’s initial court hearing was held in Tehran in May. There were hopes that her sentence would be
reduced at a secondary court hearing, as has happened in similar cases in Iran’s judicial process. However,
over the weekend the court upheld her sentence, without Ms Amiri or her attorney being present,