IRAN: US national jailed for spying

A US national has been sentenced in Iran to 10 years in prison on spying charges, Iranian officials have said. The man was identified by judicial sources as Chinese-American Xiyue Wang, a 37-year-old researcher from Princeton University. Wang was arrested last August as he tried to leave the country, according to the judiciary’s news agency. […]

A US national has been sentenced in Iran to 10 years in prison on spying charges, Iranian officials have said.

The man was identified by judicial sources as Chinese-American Xiyue Wang, a 37-year-old researcher from Princeton University.

Wang was arrested last August as he tried to leave the country, according to the judiciary’s news agency.

The US State Department called on Iran to release all those held on “fabricated” charges.

The sentence was announced on state TV by deputy judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejeie.

Mizanonline, the Iranian judiciary’s official news agency, said Wang was part of “an infiltration project” that sought to gather “highly confidential articles” for US and British institutions including the US State Department, Princeton University, Harvard Kennedy School and the British Institute of Persian Studies.