Slovak tourists arrested in Iran for taking pictures of “restricted areas”

TEHRAN, Iran – Iranian media reports that Iranian judicial authorities have opened an investigation into eight Slovak tourists, detained on suspicion of taking photographs of “restricted areas.”

TEHRAN, Iran – Iranian media reports that Iranian judicial authorities have opened an investigation into eight Slovak tourists, detained on suspicion of taking photographs of “restricted areas.”

According to Slovak media reports last week, a group of Slovak visitors had been arrested three weeks earlier and accused of taking aerial photographs, including some of military installations, from hang gliders. Some Slovak reports said they had been paragliding.

Reuters reports that Iran has repeatedly leveled accusations of espionage against foreign nationals and Iranians in recent years. Last year, an Iranian-American Amir Hekmati was sentenced to death for spying for the CIA but judges overturned the decision and ordered a retrial.

“Nine people, including eight Slovak citizens and one Iranian have been arrested … for bringing illicit equipment into Iran in pieces and using it illegally,” Mehr news agency quoted judiciary spokesman Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei as saying.

“These people have taken pictures of restricted areas. This case is under investigation by the court and inquiries are continuing,” he said.

The spokesman gave no further details. Iran’s foreign ministry said on Sunday seven Slovak tourists had been arrested and that their government had been informed.

In 2011, Iran freed two U.S. citizens – Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer – who had been sentenced to eight years in jail for spying after being arrested while hiking along the Iraq-Iran border in 2009. They had been held for over two years.

A third person detained with them, Sarah Shourd, was freed in 2010 after 14 months. They denied being spies.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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