Iran news agency head convicted for interviewee's spy remark

he of Iran's semiofficial ISNA news ncy has been convicted over publishing an article that quotes a former ambassor criticizing Tehran's “arbitrary” intelligence operations in Europe, a journalism watchdog group said Friday.

It was unclear what sentence was handed down to ISNA CEO Ali Motaghian after his trial on charges of “publishing lies with intention of disturbing public," Committee to Protect Journalists said. judiciary's Mizan news ncy said Motaghian could face penalties ranging from two months to two years in prison, 74 lashes and a cash fine.

case originates from a complaint filed by intelligence arm of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. It involved an extensive interview ISNA published in January 2019 with former Ambassor to Germany Ali Majedi.

During interview, Majedi appeared to criticize some operations by Iran's intelligence apparatus in Europe.

comments came after Germany arrested Vienna-based Iranian diplomat Assollah Assi, whom prosecutors said belonged to country's Intelligence Ministry. prosecutors allege Assi gave a couple explosives and was involved in a plot to bomb an annual rally of Iranian exile group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq group, or MEK, in neighboring France.

Separately, around same time, Danish officials accused Iran of planning to assassinate members of Arab Struggle Movement for Liberation of Ahwaz living re. That group has claimed a series of attacks in Iran seeking to make country's oil-rich Khuzestan province its own country.

“We are facing an issue inside country, such as arbitrary operations," ISNA quoted Majedi as saying. "Can we deny that re are examples of this happening outside country? Such operations dam trust.”

reporter who wrote story and Majedi were found t guilty by Tehran's Media Court in a hearing in May, CPJ said.

Iranian Students' News ncy, or ISNA, opened in 1999 as reformist President Mohamm Khatami sought to change Iran's Shiite ocracy. While independent, it — like or semiofficial news ncies — operates under a license from government.

Journalists in Iran face harassment from security services, while ors have been imprisoned for ir work. While local journalists face brunt of that treatment, foreign journalists in Tehran, especially those with Western ties, have been imprisoned as well.