An Iranian court has charged a French woman and two Iranians working for the British and French embassies in Tehran with spying and aiding a Western plot to overthrow the system of clerical rule.
British Foreign Minister David Miliband has condemned the trial and said the charges were unjustified and brought discredit to Iran.
It is the second mass trial in a week aimed at uprooting the moderate opposition and ending protests that erupted after the disputed June 12 presidential election.
At least 26 people have been killed and hundreds arrested in post-election violence.
Moderates say the poll was rigged for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to win, but officials say it was the 'healthiest' vote since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
French citizen Clotilde Reiss is charged with 'acting against national security by taking part in unrest ... collecting news and information and sending pictures of the unrest abroad'.
Espionage and acting against national security are punishable by death under Iran's Islamic law.
Ms Reiss has reportedly confessed her 'mistakes' and asked for clemency.
Nazak Afshar, an Iranian working for the French embassy, is also charged with providing information over the vote unrest to foreigners.
The British embassy employee, Hossein Rassam, was charged with spying and confessed to handing information about the unrest to the US.
Riot police used force to break up a protest by relatives of the accused outside the courtroom.
Both President Ahmadinejad's main challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi and reformist former president Mohammad Khatami have denounced the trials.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was sworn in on Wednesday for a second four-year term.
