Iran delivers death sentence to alleged C.I.A. agent

Iran delivers death sentence to alleged C.I.A. agent

Amir Mirzai Hekmati, a 28-year-old born in the United States who also holds Iranian citizenship, was sentenced to death in Iran on espionage charges. According to Iran’s ISNA news agency, Hekmati “was sentenced to death…for cooperating with the hostile country America and spying for the C.IA. (Central Intelligence Agency).” Hekmati, a former U.S. marine who served as a military translator, was accused by Iran of receiving special training in espionage and language and serving in Iraq and Afghanistan before being sent to Iran to gain the trust of Iranian authorities to gather intelligence. A man reported to be Hekmati was broadcast on Iranian state television on December 18 allegedly confessing, in both Farsi and English, to participating in a C.I.A. espionage plot. In a December interview with the Associated Press, Ali Hekmati, Amir’s father said his son was a contractor working in Qatar for a company that “served the Marines” and was in Iran to visit his grandmothers. The U.S. State Department has meanwhile denied the accusations against Hekmati and demanded his immediate release. According to Iranian law, Hekmati has 20 days to appeal the verdict to the Supreme Court, but the official date of the verdict is unknown. Although Iran often imposes the death penalty it is not known to have actually executed any U.S. citizens for spying, and so it is likely Hekmati will be kept alive and used as leverage as tensions between the United States and Iran escalate over its nuclear development program.

Headlines  

• The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization announced that a second nuclear enrichment site would soon become operational, disregarding a recent increase in sanctions.
• Yemen’s cabinet approved a draft law granting immunity to outgoing president Ali Abdullah Saleh amid alleged rifts with acting leader, former Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour al-Hadi.
• The Arab League announced that the observer mission to Syria will extend to Jan. 19 despite calls from the opposition for its end and referral to the U.N. for international peacekeeping forces.
• Calm has been restored in Cairo’s Tahrir Square after clashes on Sunday between anti-regime protesters and unidentified armed men wearing civilian clothing.
• Israel charged five right-wing Jewish settlers for espionage in planning and orchestrating an attack on an Israeli Army base in the West Bank.

Daily Snapshot

Yemeni protesters shout slogans during a demonstration against the law of immunity pertaining outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh for the transfer of power after the upcoming February presidential elections, in Sanaa on January 9, 2012, as Yemen’s Prime Minister Mohammed Basindawa began a tour to the country’s oil-rich Gulf neighbours to seek urgently needed aid for an economy approaching collapse (MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP/Getty Images). 

Arguments & Analysis

‘The brewing battle over Egypt’s constitution’ (Mara Revkin, EgyptSource – The Atlantic Council)

“Egypt could learn some lessons from Russia’s train wreck of a transition, which has seen five different constitutions in the past century.  “Good constitutions take a lot of time,” said Andrew Reynolds, a professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, who has been consulted on constitution design for countries including Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, and South Sudan.  Rather than try to hotline a quick-fix constitution that won’t last for long, Egypt should take the time to get its constitution right the first time.”

‘Western oil firms remain as U.S. exits Iraq’ (Dahr Jamail, Al Jazeera English)

“Under the current circumstances, the possibility of a withdrawal of western oil companies from Iraq appears remote, and the Obama administration continues to pressure Baghdad to pass the Iraq Oil Law. Nevertheless, resistance to the western presence continues. “The bottom line is that it seems clear that the majority of Iraqis want their oil and its operations to remain in Iraqi hands,” said Juhasz. “Thus far, it has required a massive foreign military invasion and occupation to grant the foreign oil companies the access they have thus far garnered.” While Iraq’s security remains as volatile as ever, as does the political landscape — which can change dramatically at any moment — there is one thing we can always count on as being at the heart of these conflicts, and that is Iraq’s oil.”

‘Iraq’s political crisis and the shadow of sectarian politics’ (Rachel Kantz Feder, Open Democracy)

“While the regional political constellation and the politicization of Sunni and Shi‘i identities should be considered factors in Iraq’s official stance, excessive focus on these aspects obscures the domestic dimension of its posture towards Syria. As the oft-cited dictum goes, foreign policy is ultimately local. Iraq’s abstentions from the unprecedented Arab League votes were reflective of its profound domestic fissures and the fragility of its political process. They should be understood as the Iraqi Foreign Ministry’s effort to stave off acute internal crisis and prevent a new round of violence, the likes of which could unfold as a result of Maliki’s present showdown with his political opponents.” 

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