Sir, - The Jewish Representative Council of Ireland, which is the official spokesbody of Irish people of the Jewish Faith, wishes to draw attention to the plight of 13 of their co-religionists who are being held captive in Iran and who, it has been announced, will be put on trial for "spying" on April 13th.
The information available to the Council suggests that these are trumped-up charges against defenceless citizens of Iran who are being used as scapegoats, to placate the hard-liners who are now in retreat following their recent defeat in the elections.
This "trial", which is reminiscent of the show-trials of the discredited communist regimes of Eastern Europe of the 1950s, is clearly out of place in an Iran which is now poised to take its place once again in the community of civilised nations.
The Council calls on all those who have influence with the authorities in Iran, and in particular the Minister, Mr Brian Cowen, and the Department of Foreign Affairs, to use this influence to call a halt to these proceedings and return the victims to their families and homes.-Yours, etc.,
Howard M. Gross, Hon Secretary, Jewish Representative Council of Ireland, Rathgar, Dublin 6.