Iran says it doesn't have info on retired FBI agent

WASHINGTON — The Iranian government has told the U.S. it has no information about a former FBI agent missing in Iran for more than a month, the State Department said Thursday.

In a brief message passed through Swiss intermediaries, Iran's Foreign Ministry said it had no record of Robert Levinson, last seen on the Iranian island of Kish in early March, spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Officials said the United States is skeptical of the response because it has no reason to think Levinson left Kish Island, where he had been on private business before being reported missing by his family and employers March 11.

U.S. contacts are handled through the Swiss since the U.S. broke diplomatic ties with Iran after militant students stormed its embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held its occupants hostage for 444 days. .

Levinson, 59, of Coral Springs, Fla., retired from the FBI in 1998. There have been several reports that he is being held in Iran, possibly as a hostage to trade for five Iranians detained by U.S. forces in Iraq.

Levinson was believed to be on the Persian Gulf island, known for its beaches, sea turtles and relatively liberal atmosphere, doing research for an independent filmmaker.

U.S. citizens are not barred from traveling to Iran but must obtain a visa, although no Iranian visa is required to visit Kish Island.

Levinson's disappearance was first reported during the crisis over 15 British sailors and marines seized by Iran from the Persian Gulf. U.S. officials have said repeatedly there is no connection between the cases.

Death sentence for vigilante tossed

Iran's Supreme Court has overturned a death sentence against a hard-line Islamic vigilante for murdering a couple for immoral behavior in southeastern Iran, one of the victims' lawyers said Thursday.

Ali Maleki, with the help of accomplices, drowned Reza Nejadmalayeri and his fiancée, Shohreh Nikpour, in 2002 in the belief they had broken rules against contact between unmarried men and women. The killings occurred near Kerman, 620 miles southeast of Tehran.

A Kerman court issued death sentences against six Islamic vigilantes, including Maleki, in 2003 for killing three men and two women who they believed promoted "moral corruption."

All six men were members of the Basij, a pro-government vigilante force that enforces Iran's strict version of Islamic law, including segregation of the sexes and the wearing of the veil by women.

The vigilantes, who support Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, stoned one victim to death and tied up four others before throwing them into a swimming pool, where they drowned.

— The Associated Press