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Four men that Tehran claimed to be linked to Israeli spy agency Mossad were executed on Monday, Iranian state media reported, amid escalating tensions between the longtime foes and concerns of a widening conflict in the Middle East as the Israel-Hamas war rages on.
The state-controlled Islamic Republic News Agency described the four people—who were presumably hanged (Iran’s default method of execution) and who have been previously identified as Mohsen Mazloum, Pejman Fatehi, Vafa Azarbar, and Hajir Faramarzi—as “terrorists.”
Iranian security forces arrested the four men in mid-2022, claiming that they were suspected of a plot to bomb a factory that was affiliated with the defense ministry in the city of Najafabad. The four were convicted of “forming and managing a terrorist group with the aim of disrupting the country’s security” and were sentenced to death last September for “espionage cooperation in favor of the Israeli regime,” IRNA reported, adding that their convictions were subsequently upheld by an appeal court.
Iran Human Rights, however, claimed that the four men were Kurdish political prisoners and were denied a fair judicial process. The wife of one of the men told the advocacy group that they had traveled to Urmia city in June 2022 for “political activities” on behalf of the Komala party, a social democratic Kurdish party, when they were arrested.
The Komala party confirmed the men’s executions on Monday in a post on X.