Iran executes three men accused of spying for Israel
Iran has executed three men accused of spying for Israel, as it cracks down on suspected foreign interference.
Since Israel started bombing the country, hundreds of people have also been arrested.
The hangings on Wednesday mean that six people have now been executed on similar charges.
The three men – Idris Aali, Azad Shojaei and Rasoul Ahmad Rasoul – were executed at dawn at Urmia prison on charges of 'corruption on Earth through cooperation with hostile foreign states in favour of Israel', according to state media.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard-affiliated Fars news agency reported on Wednesday that authorities have arrested more than 700 people across the country on allegations of spying for Israel.
Both the arrests and the executions suggest that the Islamic Republic is waging an extensive crackdown going forward as the regime works to regain power and legitimacy after the devastation.
Iranian officials are likely more concerned than ever about the risk of espionage given that it has emerged that Israeli intelligence was able to operate from within Iran to launch its initial attack.
The executions came one day after Iran accepted a US-brokered ceasefire ending 12 days of war with Israel.
All three had been arrested in connection with the 2020 assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a Iranian nuclear scientist.
'Imported assassination equipment'
Aali and Shojaei were cross-border porters, known as kolbars, initially detained on alcohol smuggling charges who later confessed under interrogation to importing 'equipment for assassinating nuclear figures', according to authorities.
Iran's judiciary-affiliated Mizan news agency claimed that the men had 'imported assassination equipment under the cover of alcohol shipments'.
The killings follow Iran's recent execution of Ismail Fekri and Mohammad Amin Mahdavi Shayesteh on espionage charges.
The Norway-based Iran Human Rights Organisation said Fekri was 'sentenced to death in a brief 10-minute trial based on confessions made during interrogation' without access to a lawyer in Branch 26 of Tehran's Revolutionary Court.
Iran has been cracking down on citizens since the war began, claiming that Israeli agents have deeply infiltrated the country.
The 700 arrests happened over 12 days and spanned provinces including Kermanshah, Isfahan, Khuzestan, Fars and Lorestan. No arrest figures were provided for Tehran.
Security officials accused the detained individuals of 'directing suicide drones', 'making homemade bombs', 'photographing sensitive military sites' and 'sending information to Israel'.
Authorities also claimed to have confiscated more than 10,000 'micro-drones' in Tehran alone.
Iranian officials have not provided independent verification of the detainees' identities or case details, and no photographic evidence of alleged confiscated materials has been released.
Iran's judiciary announced that it would immediately revise the legal definition of espionage 'to free the hands of the judiciary and security institutions to deal with infiltrators and spies'.
Limitations of espionage law
Asghar Jahangir, the spokesman for the judiciary, said on Tuesday: 'The current espionage law is general and may not cover many instances of today's events.'
He said that if Iran had attempted to prosecute individuals arrested during the war with Israel under existing espionage definitions, authorities would have faced 'limitations and restrictions'.
Meanwhile, citizens across Iran reported receiving threatening text messages from the judiciary warning them not to follow social media accounts affiliated with the Israeli government.
The messages warned of prosecution under Iran's 'law against hostile actions of the Zionist regime'.
Iranian lawyers dismissed the messages as having 'no judicial or legal value' and said they were intended to 'create fear and terror'.
Iran Human Rights Organisation has warned that Iran might accelerate executions of prisoners accused of espionage following recent tensions with Israel.
Concerns are mounting over the possible execution of Ahmad Reza Jalali, an Iranian-Swedish researcher who was transferred from Evin prison to an undisclosed location after Israel's Monday attack on the detention centre.
The fragile ceasefire appeared to hold on Tuesday night after both sides blamed each other for violations.
It went into effect after the US bombed Iran's three main nuclear sites over the weekend and the Islamic Republic retaliated by firing missiles at an American base in Qatar.
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