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Iranian TV Airs Second Program on Iranian-Americans Accused of Spying

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Iranian television has broadcast a second program of edited interviews with two detained Iranian-Americans that Tehran accuses of spying.

Similar to footage aired earlier this week that sparked outrage in the United States, the two spoke about their alleged participation in a U.S. plan to destabilize the Iranian government. The program shows a supposed confession.

In one interview, Haleh Esfandiari, a Middle East expert for a Washington DC research institute, said she was trying to create a network for making changes in Iran's system to improve democracy and the rights of women. She said the network would ultimately destabilize the system.

The second detainee, Kian Tajbakhsh, an urban planner with the Open Society Institute of U.S. billionaire George Soros, said his organization had a plan to create a gap between the Iranian government and the people in an effort to create a Western style democracy.

Iranian-American peace activist Ali Shakeri also is being held in a Tehran prison. A fourth, journalist Parnaz Azima, has been prevented from leaving Tehran.

The United States denies any of the four are involved in spying and said the aired interviews amount to mistreatment of the prisoners.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.

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