The Japan Times - Iran hangs man as Israeli spy after 'unfair' trial: activists

Mohsen Langarneshin, reportedly aged 34, was hanged at dawn at Ghezelhesar prison in Karaj outside Tehran, several rights groups said.

His mother and father held a vigil outside the jail during the night, pleading for his life to be spared, images on social media showed.

The Mizan news agency of the Iranian judiciary confirmed he had been put to death in the morning, describing Langarneshin as a "high-ranking spy" who supported Mossad operations inside Iran.

The rate of executions is again surging in Iran in a trend that has caused international concern with at least 335 people hanged so far this year alone, according to the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) monitor.

The hanging also comes as US President Donald Trump is seeking to reach out to the Iranian leadership to strike a deal on its nuclear programme, with both Israel and its ally the United States long refusing to rule out a military strike on Iran.

"Mohsen Langarneshin, who was sentenced to death in an unfair judicial process based on confessions obtained under torture and charged with espionage for Israel, was hanged at dawn today," said IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam.

"The Iranian authorities' execution machine is accelerating every day, taking the lives of more people," he told AFP, describing the executions as "extrajudicial killings".

The US-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, which had campaigned over his case, said Langarneshin had been convicted after his July 2023 arrest at a Revolutionary Court presided over by judge Abolghasem Salavati, sanctioned by the US and EU and notorious for his handing out of death sentences.

"He denied all charges, stating that his confessions were extracted under torture," the group said.

The Iran-born British actor and activist Nazanin Boniadi wrote on X: "The bloodthirsty Islamic Republic has executed yet another innocent."

- 'Do not execute my child' -

Mizan said Langarneshin was implicated in the killing of Guards colonel Sayyad Khodaei, who was gunned down by two motorcyclists on his way home in Tehran in May 2022.

Activists also shared a video of Langarneshin's mother recorded on Tuesday where she makes a plea for his life after a last meeting with her son at the prison.

"I just came from the last visit with my son. I need your help. Please pray for my child. May my child be saved. I do not know if he will see sunrise tomorrow."

Insisting on his innocence, she added: "They will not accept our evidence. We have many documents. We have proof of his innocence, but they (the judicial authorities) reject everything."

"It was an unfair trial! Why do you want to execute my chid? Why? Do not execute my child!" she added, in the video recorded inside a stationary car.

Western analysts believe Mossad agents do operate inside Iran as shown by sabotage attacks and killings such as the assassination of Iran's top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in 2020.

However activists fear that Iran scapegoats innocent people after failing to catch the actual agents who are often out of the territory by the time their work is uncovered.

According to the New York Times, Fakhrizadeh was assassinated by Mossad using a machine gun that had been assembled close to his home by its agents and then fired remotely after they left.

A man was executed in December 2023 after he was found guilty of collaborating with Mossad. Four others were hanged a year earlier over alleged ties to Israel.

At risk of execution is Iranian-Swedish academic Ahmadreza Djalali, who was arrested during a visit to Iran in April 2016 and sentenced to death in 2017 on charges of spying which his family says are false.

K.Tanaka--JT