Iran executed Bahman Choubi-asl on Monday, with the judiciary’s Mizan news agency claiming he was “one of the most important spies for Israel in Iran”.
The Islamic Republic has a history of executing individuals accused of links to Israel’s Mossad intelligence service, amid a decades-long shadow war between the two nations.
“The main goal of Mossad in attracting the defendant’s cooperation was to obtain the database of governmental institutions and create a breach in Iranian data centres, along with which it also pursued other secondary goals, including investigating the route of importing electronic equipment,” Mizan said.
The Supreme Court had rejected the defendant’s appeal and confirmed the death sentence on charges of “corruption on earth”, it said.
The Iran-Israel conflict escalated into a direct war in June when Israel struck various targets inside Iran, including through operations that relied on Mossad commandos being deployed deep inside the country.
Executions of Iranians convicted of spying for Israel have significantly increased this year, with at least 10 death sentences carried out in recent months.
Earlier this month, Iran executed a man identified as Babak Shahbazi.
State media said Shahbazi had worked alongside Esmail Fekri, another convict executed in June for spying for Israel since early 2022.
Shahbazi was accused of using his position as a contractor installing cooling devices to collect information from sensitive locations such as server rooms, as well as centres linked to the military and security apparatus.
The defendant’s lawyer had requested an appeal to the Supreme Court, which rejected the request.
It comes as Iran was accused of a “mass killing campaign” in a new NGO report.
More than 1,000 people were executed between January and September this year, according to the Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR). An estimated 64 hangings were carried out last week alone.
The figure is likely to be an underestimate due to restrictions on reporting, the IHR said.
Executions are thought to have spiked following Iran’s 12-day war with Israel earlier this year, as officials ordered a crackdown on alleged spies acting for Israel.
“In recent months the Islamic Republic has begun a mass killing campaign in Iran’s prisons, the dimensions of which, in the absence of serious international reactions, are expanding every day,” said the group’s director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam.
“The widespread, arbitrary executions of prisoners without due process and fair trial rights amount to crimes against humanity and must be placed at the top of the international community’s agenda regarding the Islamic Republic.”
