TEHRAN: An Iranian ex-nuclear official has been cleared of espionage, the judiciary announced on Tuesday, contradicting charges from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that the former negotiator was an atomic spy.

The investigating magistrate found that accusations against Hossein Moussavian of espionage and holding classified documents were not valid, judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi said.

However the judge found there was a case over less serious allegations of making “propaganda against the system”, he added.

“He was facing accusations of espionage, keeping classified documents and propaganda against the system. He was cleared of the first two and guilty of the third.”

Moussavian was the spokesman of the moderate nuclear negotiating team that served under president Mohammad Khatami and was replaced when hardliner Ahmadinejad became president in 2005.

The judiciary announcement comes after Ahmadinejad and other cabinet members publicly accused Moussavian of being a criminal who had passed on secrets about Iran’s nuclear programme.

Intelligence Minister Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie had even said the allegations against him were “proven” and that Moussavian had passed classified information to the British embassy in Tehran.

Jamshidi said the judge’s verdict had been passed on to prosecutors.

The case would still go to trial if prosecutors protested the decision, where the final verdict would be made by a trial judge, he added.

“The prosecutor can protest and if he agrees, it will be over at this point. If not, it will be presented in the court in the form of an indictment.

The case will be finalised in the coming days,” said Jamshidi.

Earlier a source in the judiciary said: “In the investigation, it was concluded that he committed no crime and a decision was taken not to continue the investigation.”

But government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham again made no secret of the government’s desire to see Moussavian in the dock.

“Everything that has been said, notably by the intelligence minister, is accusations. Only a judge can condemn him in a public trial,” he said.

“We hope that with a public trial the affair will be cleared up.”

Judiciary sources had reacted with barely disguised fury when the government made its accusations against Moussavian, saying that only judges were qualified to pronounce in the case.—AFP