Iran judiciary upholds death penalty for 4 'collaborators' with Israel

The Iranian Supreme Court upheld on Wednesday the death penalty for four men convicted of "collaborating" with Israel, the Iranian judiciary's Mizan online website said.

"The defendants, Hossein Ordukhanzadeh, Shahin Imani Mahmoudabad, Milad Ashrafi Atbatan, and Manouchehr Shahbandi Bejandi were sentenced to death for destroying private and public property, kidnappings and obtaining false confessions;" the site said citing a statement issued by the judiciary.

Three other defendants were given jail sentences ranging from five to ten years on charges of crimes against the country's security, aiding in kidnapping and possession of weapons, according to the same source.

On 22 May this year, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard announced the arrest of members of a "network" working under the "guidance" of the "Israeli intelligence" service.

The statement gave no further details about the men's activities or the place of their arrest.

4 sentenced to death over links with Israel

According to state media, the men were arrested in a joint operation by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Intelligence Ministry in June.

Following the legal trial, four of them were sentenced to death by a lower court. The death verdicts were subsequently challenged in the Supreme Court, which has upheld the rulings.

Iran has been rocked by sweeping anti-government protests over the death of a young woman in police custody, but officials said this case is not linked to the ongoing unrest.

The Islamic Republic has often accused Israel of recruiting locals for espionage activities, as well as sabotage at important nuclear, military and industrial facilities across the country in recent years.

It has also charged Tel Aviv of killing leading Iranian nuclear scientists.

Tensions between the two arch-foes escalated dramatically after the top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was killed in a sophisticated operation on the outskirts of Tehran in November 2020.

Israel, meanwhile, also claims that Iran's intelligence services plots attacks on Israeli citizens in foreign countries.

Source: middleeastmonitor.com, Staff, November 30 - December 2, 2022

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

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