The first plea of not guilty came Wednesday, as 31-year-old Farzad Kashi, a religion teacher, told the judge he did not pass sensitive material to the Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency.
Earlier in the day Kashi’s brother, Faramarz, 35, reportedly admitted he was guilty of such activities.
American advocates for the accused, however, remain adamant that the allegations against all 13 of the Iranian Jews on trial are unfounded. They maintain that the hearings are a scripted political show trial.
The hearings are slated to continue on Monday.
It is thought that Farzad Kashi’s innocent plea was either part of the script or perhaps a small act of defiance, said Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
“It means Farzad didn’t bend to the pressures being applied,” said Hoenlein, who has closely monitored the hearings.
At the same time, advocates like Hoenlein have two new concerns: that the string of admissions may be creating strains in the global coalition that has rallied to the defense of the accused, and that within Iran the admissions are provoking persecution of the entire community of 25,000 Jews.
“The concern we have is that too many well-meaning people are starting to doubt themselves,” said Hoenlein.
“As each one confesses, people on all sides are asking, ‘How can they all be confessing?’ But they don’t understand the circumstances under which these confessions are being made.”
At a closed hearing Monday, Ramin Farzam, 36, and Nasser Levi-Haim, 46, also a part-time Hebrew teacher, allegedly confessed.
Levi-Haim’s confession, in particular, startled advocates, who had been led to believe by their sources within the Iranian judiciary that religious leaders in the community would not be lumped into the group of so-called conspirators.
After the hearing, Levi-Haim reportedly told reporters: “I swear on the Torah, in whose service I have been for 40 years, that I was under no duress in court to confess. I got religiously involved, and I was tricked by Israeli agents.”
There appears ample reason to be skeptical about his confession.
In the Revolutionary Court, the judge is also the prosecutor, the jury and the chief interrogator behind bars, said Sam Kermanian, secretary-general of the American Iranian Jewish Federation in Los Angeles.
“The authorities don’t even need to use physical or psychological torture,” said Kermanian.
“The judge could visit and say, ‘Listen my son, you cannot hope to get anywhere by not cooperating with me.’ Anybody in their right mind would think, ‘OK, this guy can execute me if he wants. My only chance is if I give him what he wants and hope for leniency.’ “Some of them have been in prison for almost 16 months, where their only contact with the outside was five minutes a week of supervised time with their families, through thick glass and monitored telephone. The other 10,075 minutes of the week, they were under the influence of the authorities.”
Spying is a common charge leveled against Iranian dissidents. The punishment has ranged from short prison sentences to execution, but some also have had their eyes gouged out or limbs severed.
Confessions are commonplace and often repeated on television, just as two of the seven Iranian Jews have done, said Pooya Dayanim, spokesman for the Los Angeles-based Council of Iranian American Jewish Organizations.
“The Iranian public has come to recognize that these confessions are made under pressure,” Dayanim said.
Still, there are signs that many in the Iranian public are reacting to the aired confessions. Media reports from Iran state that Jews — even Jewish children — are now experiencing harassment on the street, at work and in school. There are reports of anti-Jewish graffiti and fears of an economic boycott of Jewish-owned shops
One Jewish woman, the wife of one of the spy suspects, reportedly pleaded with photographers outside court to not take her photo.
“I work at a health clinic, and I don’t want any problems,” she was quoted as saying. “I don’t want people pointing fingers at me.”
Kermanian now expects the remaining six suspects to confess to some role in the alleged spy ring. Sentencing is likely to come at the end of the month.
“There will be more confessions, and the authorities will fabricate any sort of documents or evidence they need to fabricate to make their point,” he said. “If they don’t, that’s what would be surprising.”