Iran court sentences four individuals to death over charges of spying for Israel
An Iranian Revolutionary Court sentenced three Kurdish citizens to death on charges of espionage for Israel.
The court in Urmia convicted Idris Ali and Azad Shojaei, both from Sardasht in Iran, along with Rasoul Ahmad Mohammad from Sulaymaniyah in Iraqi Kurdistan.
They were accused of spying for Israel and allegedly supplying equipment used in the 2020 assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Iran’s former Deputy Defense Minister and nuclear program official.
The verdicts followed a trial that commenced in September 2023 in Branch 2 of the Revolutionary Court. According to human rights sources, the defendants were denied access to legal representation throughout the proceedings.
Before their trial, the three men reportedly spent eight months in solitary confinement before being transferred to Urmia Central Prison. Rights monitors report that during their detention, they endured severe physical and psychological torture.
Fakhrizadeh, who headed Iran’s Ministry of Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research, was a central figure in Iran’s nuclear program until his assassination in Absard in 2020.
