1999 arrest of Iranian Jews

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In 1999, Iran’s Intelligence Ministry arrested 13 Iranian Jews in Shiraz and Isfahan, accusing them of spying for Israel’s Mossad. The group included five merchants, a rabbi, two university professors, three teachers in private Hebrew schools, a kosher butcher, and a 16-year-old boy. After a trial in an Islamic Revolutionary Court, 10 people were sentenced to 4–13 years in prison. International pressure from Israel and Jewish groups worldwide helped secure their release in small groups, with the last prisoner freed on February 19, 2003. News of the arrests first leaked online on March 18 but was largely ignored because of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. All those released later moved to Israel with their families. The arrests are widely seen as discriminatory against Iranian Jews and as an example of antisemitism in Iran.