Jury finds Reuters bureau chief in Iran guilty

TEHRAN,Oct.1(MNA) – The press jury of Tehran Province found the Reuters bureau chief in Iran, Parisa Hafezi, guilty of charges of propagating against the Islamic Republic system and spreading lies with intent to disturb public opinion. Hafezi appeared before a Tehran court on Sunday over an earlier report by the London-based news agency describing female Iranian martial arts students as “assassins.” After hearing the case of the Reuters staff member, the jury retired to consider its verdict and then announced that it has found her guilty by a majority decision. In a February 16 report, Reuters showed a number of Iranian girls training martial arts in a city near Tehran, claiming Iran was training more than 3,000 female ninjas to kill any possible foreign invaders. Press TV reported on March 28 that the Iranian girls, accused by Reuters of being assassins, said that the damage had already been done and that they were taking legal action against the agency for defamation of character.