Iran on Saturday rejected US criticism over the high-profile case of 10 Iranian Jews who were convicted of spying for Israel but had their jail terms reduced on appeal.
Iranian officials, as they have done throughout the case, again said the remarks by the US State Department after Thursday's appeals ruling amounted to "interference in Iran's internal affairs."
The official IRNA news agency cited foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi saying that Washington had "actively promoted a smear (campaign)" to call into question the legitimacy of the courts.
Washington expressed its "disappointment" after the court cut the jail terms handed down in July by at least two years for each of the 10 but did not overturn their convictions.
"We're also disappointed that the Iranian government has not released any of the 10 defendants from prison," US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
"This was done, you know, completely without due process, completely without any openness and completely without any sort of international standards," he said.
A conservative Iranian newspaper on Saturday said the courts now have to explain to the Iranian people why the men, found guilty of spying for Iran's arch-enemy, had their sentences cut.
The Jomhuri Eslami daily said the decision to ease the terms "stunned observers inside the country, nor did it satisfy the US government, the Zionist regime and the international Zionist media."
A judicial official said Friday that the 10 could still apply to have their trial quashed. The men were originally given sentences in July of between four and 13 years each -- TEHRAN, Sept 23 (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
