IRAN SENTENCES US SCHOLAR TO 10 YEARS FOR ESPIONAGE|美籍華裔學者被控間諜 遭伊朗判刑10年

Xiyue Wang, who was conducting research for his dissertation in Iran, has been charged with spying for the United States. Iran's judiciary official announced the 10 - year sentence on live television. Wang's wife said her husband was unjustly imprisoned. The Trump administration declined to elaborate on Wang's case, simply saying they are "aware" of it and the safety of U.S. citizens remains a top priority 37-year-old Wang Xiyue was born in Beijing but is now a US citizen and a Ph.D. student at Princeton University. He has now been sentenced to prison on charges of gathering intelligence for the US and UK. Official sources quoted in the Iranian media said that Wang entered Iran under the pretense of academic research, but that he was sent by American and British intelligence agencies to infiltrate the country. Iran accused Wang of collecting 4,500 pages of information that he intended to forward to the State Department, accusations that the US said were fabricated and baseless. ==SEAN SPICER White House Press Secretary== We are disappointed in that, and with respect to that individual, he is someone we are keeping an eye on. Media reports said that Wang's research focus is Eurasian history and that he is a fluent speaker of Farsi. His doctoral thesis is on how local governments functioned in predominantly Muslim areas in the 19th and 20th centuries. Wang's research advisor said that his research required collecting large amounts of written material in a short amount of time, which was why Wang photocopied and photographed thousands of pages of historical documents. Alex Vatanka, a senior research fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, said that it is easy to distinguish between historical documents and nuclear secrets and that the spy charges were only an excuse to arrest Wang. The real reason, he said, is that Muslim hardliners in Iran want to use the harsh sentence to embarrass President Hassan Rouhani, a moderate who advocates for lowering tensions with Europe and the US. Translated by JOHN CHEN 根據伊朗媒體報導，去年以間諜罪名遭到逮捕的美籍華裔學者王夕越，這個月16號被判刑10年。美國政府對此表示相當遺憾，而研究中東問題的美國學者認為，王夕越被逮捕，很可能是伊朗強硬派蓄意破壞伊朗與西方的關係，目的是給溫和派的總統羅哈尼難堪。 出生在中國北京的王夕越，現年37歲，是美國普林斯頓大學的華裔美籍博士生，他被捕並遭判刑的罪名，是替美英等國搜集情報。 根據伊朗媒體引述的官方說法，王夕越以學術研究為名入境，但實際身份是美英等國情報單位的滲透工作成員。伊朗指控王夕越蒐集了多達4500頁的資料，準備交給美國國務院等單位。但美方反控伊朗的說法是憑空捏造、毫無證據。 聲音來源 美國白宮發言人 史派瑟：我們對此事(王夕越被判刑)感到失望，我們將會持續注意有關他的訊息。 外電報導指出，王夕越不僅專攻歐亞歷史，也精通波斯語。他的博士論文主題，是19到20世紀期間，以穆斯林為主的地區、地方政府如何運作。王夕越的研究顧問指出，研究這樣的主題，需要在短時間內大量蒐集書面資料，這也是王夕越影印和拍攝幾千頁歷史文件的原因。 同樣位在美國，中東研究所的資深研究員亞利士瓦譚卡認為，歷史文件和核武飛彈機密資料，很容易就分辨出來，因此間諜罪名只是逮捕王夕越的藉口。真正的原因，很可能是伊朗的強硬派，因為不滿溫和派總統羅哈尼，致力緩和與歐美的對峙，要藉著逮捕王夕越並判處重刑，來給羅哈尼難堪。記者徐家仁 報導