By Emmanuel Nduka
Four people, including a woman, who were convicted of spying for Israel, were on Friday hanged by Iranian authorities.
The four were executed less than two weeks after authorities executed a man on similar grounds.
“Four members of a sabotage group related to the Zionist regime [Israel]… were hanged this morning” in Iran’s northwestern province of West Azerbaijan, the judiciary’s Mizan Online website reported.
They were identified as – Vafa Hanareh, Aram Omari and Rahman Parhazo – and Nasim Namazi, the woman among them.
They had all been sentenced to death on charges of “moharebeh”, or waging war against God, and “corruption on Earth” through their “collaboration with the Zionist regime”.
The group “committed extensive actions against the country’s security under the guidance of the Mossad”, Israel’s spy agency, Mizan said.
Iran does not recognise Israel and the two countries have engaged in a shadow war for years.
Heritage Times HT recalls that recently on December 16, a man also convicted of working for Mossad was executed in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan.
While the judiciary at the time did not identify the man, it said he had been convicted of “intelligence cooperation and espionage for the benefit for the hostile Zionist regime”.
Also in December 2022, the Islamic republic hanged another four people who had been convicted of collaborating with Israel’s intelligence services.
Tehran accuses Israel of carrying out a wave of sabotage attacks and assassinations targeting its nuclear programme.
Iran executes more people every year than any other nation except China, according to Amnesty International.
(AFP)
