U.S. woman arrested in Iran for spying - report
TEHRAN | Tue Jan 18, 2011 11:47am GMT
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian border guards have arrested an American woman on suspicion of spying after she entered the country illegally by land, a semi-official news agency reported on Thursday.
The Fars news agency said an "informed source" had confirmed a report earlier in the day in the daily Iran which said the woman had entered from Armenia and was detained by customs guards in the town of Nordouz in northwestern Iran.
An espionage device was found in her teeth, according to a column in the daily Iran that reports unconfirmed rumours. "She was arrested about one week ago," Fars quoted its source as saying. Iranian officials were not immediately available for comment.
The Iran daily named the 55-year-old woman as Hall Talayan but did not say when she was detained. The Fars report gave few further details, but added: "The detained American spy told Iranian security officials that she would be killed if Iran extradites her to Armenia."
If verified, the arrest could further aggravate tension between Tehran and the West, which are at loggerheads over Iran's disputed nuclear programme.
Three Americans, two men and a woman, were arrested in July 2009 near the Iran-Iraq border on suspicion of spying. The woman, Sarah Shourd, was released on bail of (312,500 pounds) in September and returned to the United States. She has said the three of them strayed across the border while hiking in Iraq.
Her two companions remain in jail awaiting trial, which was postponed in November due to Shourd's absence.
(Editing by Kevin Liffey)
