Iran executes person accused of spying for Israel’s Mossad
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Dubai: Iran executed an individual convicted of spying for Israel's intelligence agency, Mossad, in the city of Qom, the official judiciary news agency reported on Sunday.
The execution was carried out early Saturday after the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence, and a pardon request was denied, according to Mizan news agency. The identity of the executed person was not disclosed. Authorities said the individual was accused of “intelligence cooperation with the Zionist regime” and found guilty of “corruption on Earth” and “enmity against God,” crimes punishable by death under Iran’s Islamic penal code.
Mizan reported that the defendant began contacts and cooperation with Israeli intelligence in October 2023 and was arrested four months later, in February 2024. The individual allegedly provided sensitive information to Mossad and carried out missions inside Iran on behalf of Israeli intelligence. Further details regarding the nature of the espionage or the exact date of arrest were not released.
Iran’s judiciary has repeatedly justified such executions as necessary to protect national security, citing Israel’s “infiltration and sabotage operations.” The execution in Qom, a city about 120 kilometres south of Tehran, home to a sacred Shiite shrine, follows a series of similar cases involving alleged cooperation with Israel.
On October 4, Iran executed six people accused of conducting bombings and armed attacks in Khuzestan Province while allegedly working with Mossad. Authorities claimed the group “operated in direct connection with the Zionist regime’s intelligence apparatus.” Earlier, on September 29, Bahman Choobiasl was executed in Arak Prison after being convicted of spying for Israel, including collecting sensitive information and sharing it with Israeli handlers.
Since the “12-day war” earlier this year and a series of Israeli strikes targeting Iranian military sites, Iran has executed at least nine people accused of espionage. The conflict, marked by Israeli airstrikes that killed around 1,100 people, including senior Iranian military commanders, triggered Iranian missile barrages against Israeli territory, leaving both sides on high alert and escalating regional tensions.
Human rights organisations and Western governments have condemned Iran’s growing use of capital punishment, particularly for political and espionage-related offences. Activists argue that many convictions rely on coerced confessions and that trials are often held behind closed doors without access to independent legal representation.
Iranian authorities, however, maintain that those executed were “agents of hostile intelligence services” involved in terrorism or sabotage, accusing Israel of orchestrating covert attacks inside Iran, including assassinations of nuclear scientists and cyber sabotage of strategic facilities.
With PTI inputs