Perplexed by Arrest of 13 as Spies, Many Jews in Iran Say Life There Is Good

ESFAHAN, Iran —  At Kettir Davoud Synagogue here on Palestine Square, the talk at Friday night services is of three members who are not present.

One is a Hebrew teacher, another a shopkeeper. The third is a 16-year-old boy.

They are among 13 Iranian Jews and seven Muslims arrested here and in the southern city of Shiraz more than eight months ago as part of a shadowy spy case. The arrests have left the congregants in a state of anxiety and bewilderment.

For the outside world, there is no mystery about the arrests: They are being viewed far and wide as examples of the repressive nature of this nation’s Islamic regime--proof that the mullahs in charge are hostile not only to the state of Israel but to Jews in general.

But to the members of this country’s small Jewish community, the truth is more complicated. Most say they lead good lives alongside their Muslim neighbors. And so they are responding to the arrests by repeating their loyalty to Iran and asking the authorities not to betray that loyalty. And many of them would like the rest of the world to shut up about the case.

“Madeleine Albright is not going to listen to me, but we think it would be better if we solved this problem on our own,” Manoucher Eliassi, the Jewish representative to Iran’s parliament, says of the U.S. secretary of state.

Diplomats and supporters of moderate Iranian President Mohammad Khatami believe the case has more to do with politics than espionage, and they view the arrests as a bid by religious hard-liners to deepen the gulf between Iran and the West.

According to this theory, the aim is to freeze steps toward detente taken by Khatami, who late last month was again reaching out to the West with a state visit to France, his second to a European capital in a year.

Especially for Washington, it is difficult to imagine any serious move to repair relations if Iran is seen to be persecuting its Jewish minority. “It is a real problem for the Americans,” one envoy here said. “It is hard to imagine a more sensitive issue” because of the political influence of the American Jewish community.

So far, no date has been set for the trial and almost no specifics have been released about the accusations.

All that is known is that several groups of Jews were arrested beginning in February, along with the seven Muslims, and reports later leaked to Iranian media accused the detainees of spying. Ayatollah Mohammed Yazdi, the hard-line former head of the judiciary, went so far as to suggest that they would be executed--a statement that may have contributed to his ouster in August.

Several diplomats said the circumstances suggest the case was initiated at a fairly low level by intelligence officers in Shiraz. There have been rumors that the initial infraction was something as innocuous as an e-mail exchange with someone in Israel. Iran does not recognize Israel, and Iranians are barred from having contacts with Israelis. But Iranian Jews may have carried on such contacts while traveling abroad or logging on to the Internet.

Kettir Davoud Synagogue sits behind a nondescript wall at a busy intersection opposite a mosque. The synagogue is modern, but worshipers say Jews can trace their presence in Esfahan to the city’s ancient times. Jews have lived in Iran since being invited by King Cyrus the Great in the 6th century BC to come from Babylon and settle.

Rich in history, Esfahan is one of the centers of national and Islamic culture. Its imposing blue Imam Mosque, one of the architectural marvels of the Middle East, overlooks a vast central plaza. Jewish artisans and traders have been part of life here through the centuries, prominent in the bazaars where they were creating and selling carpets, jewelry and decorative ewers.

From the outside, there is nothing to indicate that Kettir Davoud is a synagogue. But step through its steel gate on a Friday afternoon and one is immediately enveloped into a lively Jewish community where yarmulke-capped boys play in the courtyard, chased by scolding mothers.

On a typical Friday, about 400 men and women cram the synagogue, one of several that serve the city’s estimated 2,000 Jews. The size of the community has dwindled from about 4,000 a decade ago, with many having emigrated to the United States, Israel or Europe. Yet residents regard their situation as acceptable by Iranian standards.

“Ninety-nine percent, we have freedom. I swear it’s true,” said one community leader after the service, seemingly eager to dispel notions abroad that Iranian Jews are oppressed.

“Of course, the first 10 years after the 1979 Islamic Revolution we had some problems going in and out of the country,” said the leader, who requested anonymity. “But since then, nothing.”

Given that, he and other congregants were all the more at a loss to explain the arrests.

“Jews, wherever they live, according to the Torah, should abide by the local government and pray for the persons governing the country,” he said. “The 13 people arrested are mostly very religious, and I don’t think that they would take a wrong path.”

Outside of the Jewish community, Iranians seem divided about the charges. Some question the accusations but resent the international furor that they see as out of proportion when compared with the reaction to the thousands of Muslim Iranians who have been arrested as suspected state enemies over the years.

Especially now that Khatami’s reformist government is emphasizing the rule of law, outsiders should let the Iranian system function, said Marzieh Seddighi, an independent member of parliament. “Respect our citizens, and leave the problem for our courts,” she urged.

Eliassi, the Jewish representative in parliament, regards the suspects as innocent and the charges as “a misunderstanding.” With other Jewish leaders, he has worked on the prisoners’ behalf, writing to the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and meeting with Khatami.

“At the beginning, [the authorities] did not show any consideration for them,” Eliassi said of the prisoners. “But after we contacted officials, they prepared all these items--lawyers, family visits, kosher diet--and now their relatives are satisfied.”

The detained Jews are being allowed visits with family members once a week, according to the community leader here.

Still, family members were hesitant to discuss the case. The wife of one of the accused declined to be interviewed, except to say that “of course” her husband is innocent. The uncle of the youth arrested said he was an “innocent and very virtuous” boy who could not have done anything wrong.

European countries in contact with Iranian officials have taken a common line. They are telling Iranian authorities that unless the rights of the accused are respected, this nation’s international reputation will suffer, slowing the progress of diplomatic normalization.

An estimated 30,000 to 35,000 Jews live in Iran, most in Tehran, the capital, and other major cities. The Jewish population has decreased from about 100,000 before the 1979 revolution. But it is still the largest in any of the Islamic countries of the Middle East.

The late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini decreed that the Jewish community was to be protected, and it never endured the persecution that was visited upon other groups in Iran, such as the Communists and the Bahai.

Eliassi said economic conditions led to most of the Jewish emigration from Iran over the years. The recent arrests accelerated the flow at first, he admitted, but now fears have subsided.

“Regarding relations between Muslims and Jews, in general this relationship is very normal,” he said. “In the street, you cannot tell who is a Jew and who is a Muslim. We have the individual freedom to conduct our weddings, divorces, births and deaths according to Jewish law.”

Except for the falling population that makes it difficult for Jews to sustain their own schools or find others of their faith to marry, he said, the community has had few problems.

One 22-year-old Jewish woman at the synagogue, who gave her name only as Esther, agreed. She said her closest friends are Muslim and that they are curious about but not intolerant toward her religion. That atmosphere is why it was such a shock when the Jews were arrested.

“None of these Jews were working in a state organization or had a position in the government,” she said. “If someone is a shopkeeper selling clothes, what kind of spy can he be?”