An Iranian court jailed a man to 10 years for spying, the official news agency IRNA reported on Monday.

“Having links with a foreign embassy, giving various information to the embassy’s intelligence elements and connecting with intelligence elements in Dubai.. are among his main charges,” IRNA quoted senior local judiciary official Mohammad Marzbeh as saying.

“Mohammad Esmail Mollazehi, was arrested last year in the southeast Iranian city of Zahedan on charge of spying.”

Earlier last month two U.S. hikers held in the Islamic state for more than two years were convicted as spies and sentenced to eight years’ jail.

Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal were arrested on July 31, 2009 near Iran’s border with Iraq, along with a third American, Sarah Shourd, who was freed on $500,000 bail in September 2010 and returned home.

In the Islamic state, espionage can carry the death penalty.

Source : Reuters