Saudi Arabia exposes alleged spying cell that collaborated with Iranian intelligence
Jerusalem Post/February 22/16
A 32-person cell accused of espionage and ties to Iranian intelligence went on trial Sunday in Saudi Arabia, the London-based daily al-Hayat reported on Monday.
According to al-Hayat, the indictment against the cell members accused them of forming a spying unit that transmitted secret information related to Saudi Arabia’s military capabilities to Iranian intelligence, thus hurting the kingdom’s national security. The trial for the accused, most of whom are Saudi citizens, is taking place at Riyadh’s Special Criminal Court.
The cell members are also accused of planning terror attacks against vital economic facilities in Saudi Arabia through high-level security coordination with Iran. As part of this coordination, some of the members allegedly met with Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The group is also accused of sending periodic reports about the kingdom to Iranian intelligence and holding meetings with its senior officials in Tehran and Beirut. According to the indictment, the cell members also attempted to recruit officials in Saudi government institutions and supported the protests and tumult that erupted in the predominantly Shi’ite eastern city of Qatif following the execution of the Shi’ite preacher, Sheik Nimr al-Nimr in December.
According to the report, the spying cell’s members were charged with “betraying the state.” The punishment for this crime, that Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr was also convicted of, is execution.
Iran’s state-run media outlets renew Salman Rushdie death fatwa
Jerusalem Post/February 22/16
Iranian state media outlets have reissued a bounty worth hundreds-of-thousands of dollars for the head of a famous author decried as a blasphemer in the Islamic Republic, CNSNews.com news site reported Monday.
Salman Rushdie, author of the controversial book The Satanic Verses, was the object of a fatwa issued in 1989 by Iran’s then supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who called for the writer’s assassination for “blaspheming” Islam.
Now dozens of Iranian state media outlets, including Fars news agency, have renewed the death edict, raising over $600,000 for the effort timed to coincide with the anniversary of the decree, according to the report.
One year after the book’s publication Khomeini issued the order for the author’s death, saying that it was every Muslim’s obligation to kill Rushdie and anyone associated with his publication, sending the writer into hiding under 24-hour police protection.
“I call on all zealous Muslims to execute [Rushdie and his publishers] quickly, where they find them, so that no one will dare to insult the Islamic sanctity,” Khomeini said at the time. “Whoever is killed on this path will be regarded as a martyr, Allah-willing.”
In 2009, on the fatwa’s 20th anniversary, an official in Iran’s Foreign Ministry said that the order was still valid, adding that only the cleric who announced the fatwa can nullify the order.
Iran’s supreme leader died four months after issuing the decree, but stated on his deathbed “even if Salman Rushdie repents and becomes the most pious man of all time, it is incumbent on every Muslim to employ everything he has got, his life and wealth, to send him to hell.”The Satanic Verses was the third novel penned by the British writer, and was partly inspired by the life of the prophet Mohammed. The title of the book refers to the satanic verses in the Koran, which allows for intercessory prayers to be made to three Pagan deities.