Iran court to announce Jews' verdict by Thursday

TEHRAN, Iran (Reuters) -- An Iranian court will announce its decision by Thursday on appeals by 10 Jews convicted of spying for Israel, a judiciary official said on Monday.

"The judges of the appeals court will probably decide by Wednesday or Thursday at the latest," said Hossein-Ali Amiri, head of the justice department in the southern city of Shiraz, where the Jews were tried with their Muslim collaborators.

"There is a possibility for the original sentences to be reduced, but this depends on the judicial decision of the three judges on the appeals panel," Amiri told Reuters by telephone.

Ten Jews and two Muslim collaborators, a military officer and a defense contractor, were found guilty of spying for Iran's arch-foe Israel in July and sentenced to prison terms ranging from two to 13 years by a Revolutionary Court.

Three Jews and two Muslims were found not guilty and the case remains open against four other Muslims and a Jew who has fled Iran.

The case has focused unwanted attention on the comfortable lives many Iranian Jews have quietly carved out in the Islamic republic and highlighted conflicts between the more secular Jews of Tehran and their more orthodox brethren in Shiraz.

Some of the Shiraz Jews were not willing to take lawyers chosen by the Jewish association in Tehran.

Iran's 30,000-strong Jewish community is the largest in the Muslim Middle East.

The case has attracted concern from overseas Jewish groups and some Western governments, but the judiciary has been at pains to show the defendants received a fair trial.

Iran's constitution guarantees a Jewish representative in parliament and recognizes Jewish laws on personal status including marriage, divorce, inheritance and burial.

The case is under review by branch nine of the appeals court led by Justice Abuzar Akhgar in Shiraz.

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