Iran hangs two on charges of spying for Israel as executions continue amid war

Iran executed two men on Saturday accused of spying for Israel, including one alleged to have gathered intelligence near the Natanz nuclear site in central Isfahan province, Iranian media reported.

The judiciary said Yaghoub Karimpour and Nasser Bakarzadeh were hanged after being found guilty of intelligence cooperation with Israel and its spy agency, Mossad.

Karimpour was accused of passing sensitive information to a Mossad officer, while Bakarzadeh allegedly collected details on government and religious figures, as well as key sites, including in the Natanz area.

This marks the second such execution in less than two weeks.

On April 20, Iran executed two men convicted of cooperating with Israel’s Mossad intelligence service and planning attacks inside the country. The two, identified as Mohammad Masoum Shahi and Hamed Validi, were accused of being part of a spy network linked to Mossad and of receiving training abroad, including in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.

However, the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran, the group they were allegedly associated with, denied the charges. Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the Paris-based Council of Resistance of Iran, its political arm, said on X that their only “crime was their commitment to freedom and the liberation of their people.”

The United Nations human rights body said on Wednesday that Iran had executed at least 21 people since February 28, when the war with the United States and Israel began, and arrested more than 4,000 on national security-related charges.

“I call on the authorities to halt all further executions, establish a moratorium on the use of capital punishment, fully ensure due process and fair trial guarantees, and immediately release those arbitrarily detained,” UN human rights chief Volker Turk said.

Rights groups say Iranian authorities have continued to crack down on opponents, including during anti-government protests earlier this year, described as the country’s worst unrest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

(With inputs from Reuters)

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