Two French nationals, a Belgian indicted for espionage in Iran

Iran has indicted two French nationals as well as a Belgian for espionage and working against the country's national security.

The decision was announced by the judiciary spokesperson on Tuesday, according to the Student News Network (SNN), a semi-official news outlet.

The news network did not say where or when the three were indicted.

Iran has accused foreign adversaries of fomenting unrest which erupted in Iran three months ago after the death in detention of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by morality police enforcing the country's mandatory dress code laws.

The protests mark one of the boldest challenges to the country's leadership since its 1979 revolution.

Death penalty

Meanwhile, two Iranian teenagers have been sentenced to be hanged over involvement in the protests sparked by Amini's death, a rights group said on Monday.

Two men aged 23 have already been executed over the protests, but campaigners fear dozens more risk being hanged.

Mehdi Mohammadifard, an 18-year-old protester, was sentenced to death on charges of setting alight a traffic police kiosk in the western town of Nowshahr in Mazandaran province, the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) group said.

The death sentence was issued by a Revolutionary Court in the provincial capital of Sari after convicting him of the capital charges of "corruption on earth" and "enmity against God," it added.

The double conviction means that he has been given two death sentences.

IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam told AFP news agency that based on available information, Mohammadifard appeared to be the youngest person yet sentenced to death over the protests.

The judiciary's Mizan Online news website said that the death sentence of another protester, Mohammad Boroghani, had been upheld in December by the Supreme Court.

Boroghani is accused of "wounding a security personnel with a knife with the intent of killing him and sowing terror among citizens" as well as "setting ablaze the governor's office in Pakdasht," a city located 43 kilometres (27 miles) southeast of the capital Tehran.

According to IHR, he is aged 19. Mizan Online's report came after some reports indicated the execution had been annulled.

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