Iran hangs man convicted of Israel spying, activists slam 'unfair' trial

By AFP/Stuart Williams

Iran on Wednesday executed a man convicted of spying for Israel, in defiance of pleas from his family and activists for his life to be spared after what they described as an unfair trial.

Pedram Madani, 41, was hanged in Ghezelhesar prison outside Tehran after being transferred this week from Evin prison in the capital where he had been held alongside some European nationals jailed by Iran.

Detained in Tehran in 2019, Madani is the second man to be executed by Iran on charges of spying for Israel in two months, amid a surge in executions on all charges which activists say is aimed at instilling fear in the population.

The hanging comes amid escalating tensions between Iran and Israel, which the Islamic republic does not recognise, over the Iranian nuclear programme.

Frenchman Louis Arnaud, who was released in 2024 after a 20-month prison ordeal in Iran, said he had been held alongside Madani in Evin prison and paid tribute to a man he described as "another innocent... thrown into the dust".

Arnaud, who was seen by the French government as a "state hostage" and was one of several Europeans held in similar circumstances, said that as well as teaching him carpentry behind bars Madani was "my soulmate, my refuge. The one who knew how to bring back my smile".

"What an honour to have walked beside you, shared a little of your burden, to carry your story in mine," he said in a statement to AFP.

'Unfair process'

The judiciary's Mizan Online website said Madani had been "spying in favour of the Zionist regime", using the term employed by institutions in the Islamic republic to denote Israel.

But activists and his family said the case against him was deeply flawed and he had notably been denied the right to a lawyer of his choosing during the legal process.

Madani "was sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court without access to a lawyer of his choice, through an unfair and non-transparent process orchestrated by security agencies," Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the director of Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR) which tracks the death penalty in Iran, told AFP.

"The Islamic Republic's goal in executing Pedram Madani and others who are hanged daily is solely to instill fear within society and to conceal the regime's widespread corruption and systemic failures."

The Dadban legal monitor said in such a trial before the Revolutionary Court the defendant is denied the possibility of defending himself and the judge also has "no option" of rejecting the case.

"It is more than a legal accusation -- it is a charge used as a tool to issue and carry out the death penalty," it said.

In a video posted on Tuesday by IHR and other groups warning of the risk of the imminent execution, his mother described Madani as a "man who loves his country and loves his family".

"My son's case is full of flaws and his death sentence must be revoked," she said.

'False confessions'

Nobel peace prize winner Narges Mohammadi, currently on temporary release from serving her own prison sentence, had issued a plea for his life to be spared, saying the conviction was based on a forced confession.

"There was not even a chosen lawyer on the case. Pedram's cellmates testify he confessed falsely and under pressure. In Revolutionary Courts these false confessions serve as the basis of death sentences," she said in a video message from Iran.

According to Mizan, Madani was accused of transmitting classified information and holding meetings with Mossad officers abroad, including in Brussels.

He was also convicted of acquiring "illicit wealth" by receiving euros and bitcoin from Israel.

In April, Iran executed Mohsen Langarneshin for allegedly aiding Mossad in the 2022 killing of a Revolutionary Guards colonel in Tehran.

Rights groups including IHR have said Langarneshin was executed after an unfair trial and a confession extracted under torture.

According to IHR, there have been at least 480 executions in Iran this year alone, including more than 60 hangings in the last 10 days.

Among the latest people to be executed was a man convicted of murder who was hanged in public on Tuesday in the western Lorestan province, it said.