TEHRAN, Nov 14: A former Iranian nuclear official briefly imprisoned earlier this year has been charged with giving classified information to the British embassy, the intelligence minister said on Wednesday.

Hossein Moussavian, a close ally of former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, was released on bail after his detention in May but his case is not closed.

“His charge is giving information to foreigners, including the British embassy, contrary to the country’s security and interests,” Intelligence Minister Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie told the Fars news agency.

“This accusation is proven in the eyes of the intelligence ministry,” he said, accusing unnamed “influential people” of trying to interfere in the case and seek Moussavian’s acquittal.

Moussavian’s name returned to prominence this week when an angry President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused his critics of “pressuring the judge to acquit a spy” in a security case.

Ahmadinejad did not mention Moussavian by name but observers saw the remarks as an unmistakable reference to the former nuclear official.

Iran’s judiciary insisted judges were independent.

“Judges in Iran are independent in accordance with the constitution and do not take orders from anyone,” a source in the judiciary spokesman’s office said. “Nobody can pressure the judge in a case.”

The comments come at a time of rising tensions between Ahmadinejad and his opponents over the handling of Iran’s nuclear case, with moderates urging the president to adopt a less confrontational tone.

Moussavian, a former ambassador to Germany, served as a member of the moderate negotiating team under reformist president Mohammad Khatami to 2005.—AFP