Iran executed Aghil Keshavarz after the Supreme Court upheld his death sentence for alleged spying.
State media claimed he had “close intelligence cooperation” with Israel’s Mossad.
The execution follows a surge in espionage cases after the June Iran-Israel conflict.
Iran Executes Man Accused Of Spying For Israel
Aghil Keshavarz was convicted of cooperating with Israel’s Mossad and photographing military sites, according to Iranian state television
Summary
Iran has executed a 27-year-old man convicted of spying for Israel, state media reported on Saturday, marking the latest such case amid heightened tensions between the two countries, according to PTI.
State television identified the man as Aghil Keshavarz, alleging that he had “close intelligence cooperation” with Israel’s Mossad and had photographed sensitive Iranian military and security locations, PTI reported. The execution took place after Iran’s Supreme Court upheld the death sentence handed down by a lower court.
According to PTI, Keshavarz was arrested in May while taking photographs of a military headquarters in the north-western city of Urmia, around 600 kilometres north-west of Tehran. Iranian authorities accused him of carrying out more than 200 similar assignments for the Mossad across several cities, including the capital.
State media said Keshavarz had studied architecture. Officials claimed the material he gathered related to military and security installations, allegations that formed the basis of the espionage charges brought against him, PTI reported.
The execution comes against the backdrop of a sharp escalation between Iran and Israel earlier this year. Since a 12-day air war in June, in which Israel carried out strikes inside Iran, Tehran has executed 11 people on espionage charges, according to PTI. The June conflict reportedly killed nearly 1,100 people in Iran, including senior military commanders and nuclear scientists. Iran’s subsequent missile strikes killed 28 people in Israel.
In a similar case, Iran executed another individual convicted of spying for Israel’s intelligence agency in October in the city of Qom, PTI reported, though authorities did not publicly identify that person.
Iran frequently conducts closed-door trials in espionage cases. Rights groups and observers have raised concerns that those accused are often denied access to the evidence presented against them, a practice that has drawn repeated international criticism.
(With inputs from PTI)
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