There are many reports of a struggle in Iran between moderate and conservative forces over the future of the country. Whatever the nature of that struggle, the Jewish community of Iran, a responsible and loyal community, should not be made a scapegoat.

Unfortunately, 13 Jews sit in prison in the Iranian city of Shiraz and face trumped-up charges of espionage, which is punishable by death, on behalf of Israel and the United States.

These Jews, including rabbis, religious teachers and community activists, have committed no such crime. The U.S. and Israel have adamantly denied any connection to these prisoners.

All the Jews of Iran want is to be able to live in their country, where they have thousands of years of history, while fulfilling their Jewish identities. Efforts to portray these individuals as participants in a "Zionist spy ring" are ludicrous. They are innocent and should be released immediately.

Since the beginning of the Islamic revolution, the government has claimed that it respects Jews and the Jewish community. Indeed, one hears often from Islamic leaders that historically Jews have faired better under Islamic rule than in Christian countries. Tolerance for Jewish life was deemed a principle of the religion. There is some truth to this claim.

Indeed 25,000 Jews still live in Iran as a tolerated minority. According to the Iranian constitution, a single representative from each minority community serves in the Iranian parliament.

On the other hand, since the 1979 Iranian Revolution that toppled Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi – under whose reign the Jewish Iranian community prospered – the safety of the community has become largely dependent on the largesse of an Islamic regime that is anti-Israel and anti-West.

In many ways, this has been a very difficult 20 years for the Jewish community in Iran. The government has consistently articulated anti-Israel and anti-Zionist propaganda. A number of Jews have been executed on charges of spying for Israel and the U.S.

Jewish property has been confiscated, and there are other reports of other discrimination. One reflection of these difficulties is the immigration to the U.S., Israel and Europe of thousands of Iranian Jews from a community that once numbered 80,000.

Still, the Iranian government has consistently asserted that it is not anti-Jewish and that the Jewish community is an integral part of Iranian society and plays a legitimate religious and social role. And the worst fears about excesses by the Islamic regime against the Jewish community have generally not come to pass.

However, by charging these innocent members of the Jewish community, the regime seems to be going beyond anything previously witnessed, reactivating some of those long-held fears.

It is ironic, and may be connected, that all of this is happening at the very time that Iran, with the 1997 election of President Mohammad Khatami, claims that it is eager to become a fully accepted member of the international community. The government’s behavior toward the Jewish community seems to counter such an interest.

It is therefore on religious and humanitarian grounds, and because of Iran’s hope of furthering its position in the international community, that we as Americans and Jews believe it is imperative that Iran immediately release these innocent individuals.

This op-ed originally appeared in the New York Daily News on Friday, June 11, 1999.