Princeton University has released more information on its student sentenced by an Iranian court over spying charges. Fourth-year doctoral candidate Wang Xiyue was in Iran last summer for research on the administrative and cultural history of the late Qajar dynasty. Wang has been accused of “spying under the cover of research.” The student was arrested in July 2016 when trying to leave Iran.
Earlier in January, Tehran’s chief prosecutor said as many as 70 spies were serving sentences in the city’ prisons, but not many of their identities have been released. The US State Department has accused Iran of fabricating national security-related charges to detain Americans and other foreigners. The US has called for the immediate release of all its citizens detained in Iran. (cgtn)