Unnamed Political Prisoner Executed as “Mossad Agent”

According to Iran state media, a man only identified as Saeed was executed at an undisclosed location on 3 March. He was accused of “intending to blow up the Ministry of Defence’s workshop complex in Isfahan” on 28 January 2023.

State media claim Saeed was a “Mossad agent” who had escaped Iran after the unsuccessful operation. He was arrested in a neighbouring country through the “judicial coordination and efforts by the anonymous soldiers of Imam Zaman in the Ministry of Intelligence and IRGC” and transferred to Iran.

The Islamic Republic usually refers to the extrajudicial kidnapping of its dissidents from neighbouring countries as “arrests.”

Dissidents Ruhollah Zam, Habib Asyoud and Jamshid Sharmahd were kidnapped from neighbouring countries in 2020. Ruhollah Zam was executed in December 2020 and Habib Asyoud in May 2023. Habib Asyoud was kidnapped with the help of international drug cartels.

Four Kurdish political prisoners, Mohsen Mazloum, Pejman Fatehi, Vafa Azarbar and Hajir Faramarzi, were executed for allegations of espionage for Israel in Urmia Central Prison on 29 January. Those accused of such charges are subjected to torture to force confessions are denied due process and fair trial rights at Revolutionary Courts.