IRAN UPHOLDS JAIL TERM FOR AID WORKER

Agence France Presse
April 14, 2009 Tuesday 8:41 AM GMT

Iran has upheld a jail term against an Iranian woman of Armenian
descent accused of involvement in an alleged US-backed plot to topple
the Islamic regime, the judiciary said on Tuesday.

Silva Harotonian, 34, who worked for the American aid organisation
IREX, was sentenced to three years in jail in January.

"Her three-year jail term for crimes against security has been
upheld by the appeal court," judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi
told reporters.

Harotonian joined IREX in late 2007 "to facilitate an exchange
programme to enhance cooperation between Iran and the United States
on maternal and child health care issues," the organisation said on
its website.

In January, Iran announced it had dismantled a network allegedly funded
by the United States to overthrow the Islamic regime by triggering
social upheaval.

Four people including Harotonian and two doctors, brothers Arash and
Kamiar Alaie, were sentenced to jail.

The authorities have not yet commented on the fate of the fourth
suspect but upheld the six-year jail terms against Alaie brothers,
who are well known for their pioneering work in HIV/AIDS.

Tehran regularly accuses Washington and London of covertly backing
violent and non-violent action against the state in a bid to topple
the Islamic regime.