Iran's Judiciary spokesman Ali-Reza Jamshidi charged seven Iranians with espionage, the official IRNA news agency reported on Tuesday.

Jamshidi charged seven members of the "outlawed Bahai sect" with espionage without naming them, according to the report.

"The seven members of the outlawed Bahai sect committed criminal acts including spying for foreigners," he told reporters at his weekly press conference, adding that, "The seven would attend their hearing sessions within one week."

Jamshidi went on by stating that, "Any acts which could be taken as propaganda against Islam, Iran and its Islamic establishment is definitely considered a crime and its perpetrators would be legally encountered."

According to IRNA, Iran's Prosecutor General Dorri-Najafabadi said on Sunday that "There is irrefutable evidence that adherents of the Bahai sect are in close contact with the enemies of the Iranian nation."

The Bahai Faith is a religion founded by Bahaollah in nineteenth-century Persia, who claimed for being a messenger after Muslims' messenger of Muhammad, which is a ground for opposition by Iran's Shia Muslims who believe in Muhammad as God's last messenger.

Earlier in January, an official of Iran's intelligence ministry counter-espionage, who was not named, said that Iran had discovered and dismantled a "soft overthrow" project and arrested four members of the network involved in the plot against the country.

Iran has incessantly accused the United States and Israel of plotting against the Islamic regime by disclosing documents and trying their alleged agents in the country.

In November 2008, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Commander, Major General Muhammad Ali Jafari, said that Iran had discovered an Israeli spy network.

Source:Xinhua