Tehran, April 14: Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast insists that a Bahraini news report on the trial of two Iranian citizens in the country on espionage charges is fabricated.
“Such allegations and reports lack truth,” said Mehmanparast in a statement released by the foreign ministry on Wednesday.
He said the false reports were aimed at turning public attention away from the realities on the ground in Bahrain.
On Tuesday, Bahrain’s official news agency BNA reported that two Iranian nationals and a Bahraini were on trial for what it claimed as ‘spying for Iran.’
According to BNA, the three provided military and economic information to Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) with “the intention of harming the national interests of the country.”
Since February 14, Manama has been conducting a brutal crackdown on protesters that demand an end to the despotic rule of the Al Khalifa family.
To help Manama crush the anti-government protests, Saudi Arabia has deployed more than 1,000 troops to Bahrain. Yet, the latter accuses Iran of interfering in the sheikhdom’s internal affairs.
According to the state-funded BBC, the harsh crackdown of Bahraini protesters has so far left over 30 people dead.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have condemned the Bahraini and Saudi regimes for the heavy-handed tactics they have employed against civilians in the Persian Gulf state.
——–Agencies