Alleged Mossad contacts: Four people executed in Iran

Four people have been executed in Iran. They are said to have worked with the Israeli secret service – but according to human rights activists, they were political prisoners.

Iran’s judiciary has executed four members of the Kurdish minority following allegations of sabotage. They were accused, among other things, of collaborating with Israel’s arch-enemy Mossad. Three men and a woman were executed in West Azerbaijan province, the Misan justice portal reported. Iran’s security services had already arrested the group at the end of October 2022.

The Norwegian-based human rights organization Hengaw also reported on the executions in the prison in the city of Urmia. According to their information, they were political prisoners. The activists strongly condemned the executions.

Accusation of Sabotage actions

According to Misan, which is considered the mouthpiece of the Iranian judiciary, the four were part of a group of ten defendants. They were accused of endangering national security through acts of sabotage. At the time of the arrest, thousands were demonstrating against the Islamic system of rule. The protests, triggered by the death of the young Iranian Kurdish woman Jina Mahsa Amini, were violently suppressed. Death sentences were then imposed. Activists criticized the verdicts as politically motivated.

According to Misan’s report, several other suspects who worked with the same group were also sentenced to 10 years in prison each. No details were given.

In December, a man was executed in the southeastern Iranian province of Sistan-Baluchestan on similar charges. Iran has long accused Israel of sabotaging the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program. The Tehran leadership accuses Israel of being responsible for attacks on nuclear facilities and murders of nuclear scientists. Israel has not yet denied the allegations or admitted involvement.

Already more than 700 executions

Human rights activists have criticized the practice of capital punishment in Iran for decades. According to their findings, the Islamic Republic’s judiciary executed significantly more people in 2023 than in previous years. There are no official figures on executions. According to an annual report by the human rights organization HRANA, around 750 people were executed this year. Last year there were at least 582 death sentences.