TEHRAN, Feb 7 (News Agencies) - Iran's supreme court has denied an appeal from 10 Iranian Jews convicted of spying for Israel, the official Iranian news agency IRNA reported Wednesday.
IRNA's web site quoted a statement by the prosecutor's office as saying that three Supreme Court judges had studied the appeal and found it to have no legal basis.
"The appeal writs contained repetitious material which had been heard by the court of first instance and the appeals court...and the supreme court issued an opinion rejecting the request,'' the statement said.
Israel, which is not recognized by Islamic Iran, has denied any espionage link with the men.
Iran, for its part, rejected criticism of the case, which attracted worldwide attention and condemnation, as interference in its internal affairs, and repeatedly underlined the political "independence" of the Iranian courts, which are dominated by conservatives.
In September, an appeals court in the southern city of Shiraz reduced the sentences on those convicted by between two and six years, cutting the main defendant's jail term from 13 years to nine.
An Iranian judiciary spokesman was quoted Wednesday as saying that the judiciary had not received any requests for pardon from the 10. A Jewish member of parliament had said they had sought pardon from supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The 10 Iranian Jews were found guilty last July by a Revolutionary Court in Shiraz and were each given prison sentences ranging from two to 13 years, except three, whom the court acquitted.
