BREAKING NEWS

Iran arrests second British-Iranian national since mid-April

By REUTERS

MAY 2, 2018 20:36

BEIRUT - Iran has detained a British-Iranian dual national who works as a security analyst, the independent news site Iran Wire reported on Wednesday, the second such arrest since mid-April.

Iran Wire said it had received word of the arrest of Mahan Abedin in the past week, quoting an unidentified source in the capital Tehran. It did not spell out when or where Abedin was arrested or where he lived, but its report indicated that he was visiting Iran when taken into custody.

Asked about Abedin's arrest, Britain’s Foreign Office said: “We are urgently seeking information from the Iranian authorities following reports of the arrest of a British-Iranian dual national.”

Last Wednesday, the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said the Iranian Revolutionary Guards had detained Abbas Edalat, a British-Iranian national who is a professor of computer science at Imperial College in London, in mid-April.

Asked about reports of Edalat's detention, judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejehi told reporters in Tehran on Sunday: "I confirm his arrest on security charges, but I am unable to give details," according to state broadcaster IRIB.

At least three other British-Iranian dual citizens are known to be held in the Islamic Republic, whose relations with Britain have been strained for many years.

Separately, Aras Amiri, who works for the British Council in Britain, was arrested in Tehran in mid-March, her cousin, Mohsen Omrani, announced in a series of tweets on Wednesday.

The British Foreign Office said she was not a British citizen.

The Revolutionary Guards have arrested at least 30 dual nationals since 2015, most for alleged espionage, Reuters reported in November.

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