Lebanese-American arrested in Iran for 'CIA connection'
Lebanese-American arrested in Iran for 'CIA connection'
A Lebanese-American business leader who disappeared in September was arrested by the Iranian authorities for "working for the CIA", according to Iranian media.
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Iranian police have arrested a Lebanese-American businessman [Anadolu/Getty]
A Lebanese-American business leader who disappeared in September was arrested by the Iranian authorities under suspicion of being an American spy working for the CIA, the BBC has revealed.
Nizar Zakka "has several connections with the US intelligence and army", Iranian officials told Tehran's state-owned news service, according to the British broadcaster's Arabic division.
Zakka was due to take a scheduled flight from Tehran to Beirut on 18 September. But after leaving his hotel in a taxi, he never arrived at the airport, according to a statement from the Arab ICT Organisation, Zakka's NGO, also known as IJMA3.
Iranian media outlets published a photo of Zakka wearing US military fatigues. Reporters said the photo had been taken in a US military base in Riverside, California.
Iranian officials did not reveal when or where Zakka was detained.
Hardliners have previously said that Zakka was associated with an Iranian group that had collaborated in a security project identified by the authorities as an undercover US-led operation to infiltrate Iranian politics.
Zakka was ostensibly in Tehran to attend the second International Conference and Exibition on Women in Sustainable Development, on the invitation of Iran's vice-president for women and family affairs.
Nizar Zakka "has several connections with the US intelligence and army", Iranian officials told Tehran's state-owned news service, according to the British broadcaster's Arabic division.
Zakka was due to take a scheduled flight from Tehran to Beirut on 18 September. But after leaving his hotel in a taxi, he never arrived at the airport, according to a statement from the Arab ICT Organisation, Zakka's NGO, also known as IJMA3.
Iranian media outlets published a photo of Zakka wearing US military fatigues. Reporters said the photo had been taken in a US military base in Riverside, California.
Iranian officials did not reveal when or where Zakka was detained.
Hardliners have previously said that Zakka was associated with an Iranian group that had collaborated in a security project identified by the authorities as an undercover US-led operation to infiltrate Iranian politics.
Zakka was ostensibly in Tehran to attend the second International Conference and Exibition on Women in Sustainable Development, on the invitation of Iran's vice-president for women and family affairs.
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