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 TEHRAN
(Reuters) - Canadian-Iranian philosopher Ramin Jahanbegloo, arrested in Tehran last month on spying charges, has
been denied access to a lawyer during his interrogations, the judiciary said
on Tuesday.
Canada earlier this month
asked Iran
to either release or charge Jahanbegloo, who has
joint nationality, and the case has further strained the icy relations
between the two governments.
Jahanbegloo has worked and lectured on democracy in
Iran
and how the Islamic Republic can engage with the West, and has written on the
importance of acknowledging the Holocaust. Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has
questioned whether it happened.
"It is a security case. Based on the law, when it is at this stage of
the investigation, he cannot have access to a lawyer," Justice Minister
Jamal Karimirad told a news conference at Evin prison in north Tehran.
Karimirad gave no indication of how long the
investigation stage might take. Authorities had invited journalists on a very
rare visit to the notorious Evin prison, where
political prisoners like Jahanbegloo are held.
Diplomatic relations between Tehran and Ottawa have been poor since
Canadian-Iranian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi died
in detention in Iran in 2003 after being arrested for photographing Evin prison.
Iran
says conditions are improving in its jails but rights groups describe
arbitrary detention and solitary confinement and say detainees should have
more access to lawyers and family.
Jahanbegloo, educated at the Sorbonne and Harvard,
has written books and articles on subjects ranging from Indian independence
leader Mahatma Gandhi to political philosopher Isaiah Berlin.
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