Latest news with #MahmoodAmiryMoghaddam
The Sun
6 hours ago
- Politics
- The Sun
Iran executes three prisoners accused of spying for Israel in brutal crackdown in wake of 12-day war
IRAN executed three more prisoners accused of spying for Israel as it launched a major crackdown in the wake of the 12-Day War. The three men - named as Idris Ali, Azad Shojai and Rasoul Ahmad Rasoul - were hanged yesterday morning. The trio were paraded on State TV in blue prison uniforms after being convicted of espionage. At least six men have been killed in the past 10 days on the orders of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. A further 700 have been rounded up and arrested. Iran human rights boss, Mahmood Amiry Moghaddam, said: 'After the ceasefire with Israel, the Islamic Republic needs more repression to cover up military failures, prevent protests, and ensure its continued survival. 'Executions are the Islamic Republic's most important tool for instilling societal fear, and in the coming days and weeks, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of prisoners might be at risk of execution.' In May, a young son of a British couple imprisoned in Iran on spying charges revealed how devastated he was after hearing of his parents' arrest. Husband and wife Craig and Lindsay Foreman have spent almost 150 days in jail since being detained during a round-the-world motorbike trip. The Brits entered Iran despite being warned by the Foreign Office and their family to avoid passing through the notoriously strict state. The couple, both in their 50s, were held back in January on unspecified espionage charges. The Iranian government continues to claim they were 'posing as tourists' to gather intelligence against the Middle East nation. Ever since their incarceration, the pair have hardly spoken to their loved ones and mainly had contact with the Foreign Office. Secret Iranian fortress Trump's bombs CAN'T reach: Fears ultra-secure 'Pickaxe' mountain is perfect nuclear hiding place 1
Asharq Al-Awsat
12 hours ago
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Iran Hangs Three More Accused of Spying for Israel
Iran on Wednesday hanged three men convicted of spying for Israel after what activists decried as an unfair trial, bringing to six the number of people executed on such charges since the start of the war between the Islamic republic and Israel. The hangings have also amplified fears for the life of Swedish-Iranian dual national Ahmadreza Djalali who has been on death row for seven-and-a-half years after being convicted of spying for Israel which his family vehemently denies. The executions also bring to nine the number of people executed by Iran on espionage charges since the start of 2025, with activists accusing Tehran of using capital punishment as a means to instil fear in society. Idris Ali, Rasoul Ahmad Rasoul and Azad Shojai were executed earlier Wednesday in the northwestern city of Urmia, the judiciary said, the day after a truce between the Islamic republic and Israel came into effect, AFP reported. They had "attempted to import equipment into the country to carry out assassinations," it added. Iran had executed three other men accused of spying for Israel since the start of the conflict on June 13, in separate hangings on June 16, June 22 and June 23. "The Islamic Republic sentenced Idris Ali, Rasoul Ahmad Rasoul, and Azad Shojai to death without a fair trial and based on confessions obtained under torture, accusing them of espionage," Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR), told AFP. He said Ali and Shojai were two border porters -- known locally as kolbar -- who carry goods over the border. "They were arrested on charges of smuggling alcoholic beverages but were forced to confess to espionage for Israel," he said. Ali and Shojai were members of Iran's Kurdish minority while Rasoul, while also Kurdish, was an Iraqi national. - 'Imminent risk' - He warned that in the coming weeks the lives of "hundreds" more prisoners sentenced to death were at risk. "After the ceasefire with Israel, the Islamic republic needs more repression to cover up military failures, prevent protests, and ensure its continued survival." Djalali was arrested in 2016 and sentenced to death in October 2017 on charges of spying following what Amnesty International has termed "a grossly unfair trial" based on "'forced confessions' made under torture and other ill-treatment." Long held in Tehran's Evin prison, which was hit by an Israeli strike on Monday before the truce, he has now been transferred to an unknown location, raising fears that his execution could be imminent, his family and government said. "He called me and said, 'They're going to transfer me.' I asked where, and he said, 'I don't know,'" his wife Vida Mehrannia told AFP. "Is it because they want to carry out the sentence? Or for some other reason? I don't know," she said, adding that she was "very worried" following the latest executions. The Swedish foreign ministry said it had received information that he has been moved to an "unknown location" and warned there would be "serious consequences" for Sweden's relationship with Iran were he to be executed. Amnesty International said Tuesday it was "gravely concerned" that he "is at imminent risk of execution". - 'Grossly unfair trials' - Rights groups say defendants in espionage cases are often convicted under vaguely-worded charges which are capital crimes under Iran's sharia law including "enmity against god" and "corruption on earth". Analysts say that Israel's intelligence service Mossad has deeply penetrated Iran, as shown by its ability to locate and kill key members of the Iranian security forces in the conflict. But rights groups say that those executed are used as scapegoats to make up for Iran's failure to catch the actual spies. Iran's judiciary chief, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei had ordered swift trials against people suspected of collaborating with Israel with rights groups saying dozens of people have been arrested since the conflict started. "A rush to execute people after torture-tainted 'confessions' and grossly unfair trials would be a horrifying abuse of power and a blatant assault on the right to life," said Hussein Baoumi, deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International. According to IHR, Iran has executed 594 people on all charges this year alone.
Asharq Al-Awsat
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Iran Says it Executed 9 ISIS Militants Detained after a 2018 Attack
Iran said Tuesday it executed nine militants of ISIS group detained after a 2018 attack. The Iranian judiciary's Mizan news agency announced the executions, saying that the death sentences had been upheld by the country's top court, The AP news reported. It described the militants as being detained after they were in a clash in the country's western region with Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, in which three troops and several ISIS militants were killed. Authorities said they had seized a cache of combat weapons, including a machine gun and 50 grenades, after surrounding the militants' hideout. Iran carries out executions by hanging. In the past eight months, it has executed an average of one person every six hours, according to Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of advocacy group Iran Human Rights. He said Tuesday's executions were issued without fair trials and that there have been no updates about seven others reportedly detained in the 2018 attack. ISIS, which once held vast territory across Iraq and Syria in a self-described caliphate it declared in 2014, was ultimately beaten back by US-led forces. It has since been in disarray, though it has mounted major assaults. In Iran's neighbor Afghanistan, for instance, ISIS is believed to have grown in strength since the fall of the Western-backed government there to the Taliban in 2021. The group previously claimed a June 2017 attack in Tehran on parliament and a mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini that killed at least 18 people and wounded more than 50. It has claimed other attacks in Iran, including two suicide bombings in 2024 targeting a commemoration for an Iranian general slain in a 2020 US drone strike. That assault killed at least 94 people. The clash with Revolutionary Guardsmen in 2018 marked a point of heightened tensions between Iran and the militant group. Iran launched ballistic missiles at parts of eastern Syria, vowing revenge after militants disguised themselves as soldiers and opened fire at a military parade in the Islamic Republic's southwest. That attack killed at least 25 people and was claimed by both ISIS and local separatists.
