Esmail Fekri Hanged for Israel Espionage After 2 Years on Death Row

According to the judiciary’s Mizan news agency, Esmail Fekri was executed on charges of espionage for Israel through “contact with two Mossad officers” on 16 June 2025. The location of the execution has not been specified but it appears that Esmail was executed in Ghezelhesar Prison where he was being held.

He was arrested two years ago. IHRNGO previously reported Esmail’s transfer from Evin Prison to Ghezelhesar Prison along with Mohsen Langarneshin on 15 February 2025. Mohsen was executed in a group hanging of seven at the prison on 30 April. 

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Esmail Fekri's trial lasted ten minutes before Judge Iman Afshari issued his death sentence at Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court. It was upheld by Branch 39 of the Supreme Court. Esmail was deprived of the right to a lawyer at trial and, despite not having any government job, was accused of spying and providing secret nuclear, missile and naval information to Israel. They threatened to arrest his family to extract the confession under interrogations, which he later denied in court.”

Esmail Fekri is the fourth person executed on charges of “espionage for Israel” in 2025. 

It should be noted that the Iranian security services have a history making false allegations and forcing false confessions under duress. In one case, Maziar Ebrahimi, an Iranian citizen, was arrested on charges of involvement in the assassination of nuclear scientists in 2012 by the Ministry of Intelligence. He pleaded guilty to the allegations in a televised confession, but was acquitted and released in 2014  when his innocence was proven following a dispute between the Islamic Republic Guards Corps (IRGC) and the Ministry of Intelligence. It is believed that many people have been victims of false allegations and never had the opportunity to prove their innocence.