Correspondent in Germany
Iran has sentenced a former researcher of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), identified as Amirreza Jalilian, to 10 years in prison after convicting him of spying for the UK, his wife told Iran International.
Jalilian, who held a senior scientific role in the nuclear medicines field and had previously worked for the IAEA for about nine years, was arrested in August 2024.
His wife, Saeedeh Varesteh, said that he was convicted without access to a lawyer of his choosing and denied family contact for months.
“The court found him guilty of espionage for Britain and imposed a 10-year sentence,” Varesteh told Iran International.
Over the years, Jalilian made several trips to Iran to visit his family and attend scientific conferences, but “each time, he was summoned and interrogated by security agents at undisclosed locations, including some hotels in Tehran,” his wife said.
According to his wife, Jalilian attended a meeting just days before his arrest with Amirhossein Faghihi, then head of Iran’s Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute, who was later killed in Israeli strikes during the 12-day war in June.
Varesteh said her husband told her he was “under intense pressure from security forces” in the days leading up to his arrest, though she did not specify what that pressure involved.
On August 7, 2024, five agents accompanied him to his mother’s home and seized his belongings. “After that, we had no information about where Amirreza was being held,” she said.
The family sought help from several senior officials, including Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, and his predecessor, Ali Akbar Salehi. “All we were told,” Varesteh said, “was to wait and pray.”
According to her, Jalilian’s family also reached out to Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and other senior officials within the organization to seek his release, but their efforts have so far yielded no results.
Even the United Nations representative in Tehran twice requested permission to meet with Jalilian, but both requests were denied by Iranian judicial and security authorities, she added.
“He is a scientist, not a spy,” his wife said.
Jalilian began his career working in radiopharmaceutical development at Iran’s nuclear research institute before being selected in 2014 for a role at the IAEA in Vienna, where he published several papers.
No public comment has been made by Iranian authorities about the case.
The case comes amid an intensifying crackdown by Iranian security services on scientists, dual-citizens and other professionals accused of espionage.
