Iran executed a man on Saturday who it said was convicted of spying for Israel and having ties to Iranian opposition groups, the judiciary’s Mizan news agency
reported.
Entangled in a decades-long shadow war with Israel, Iran has executed many people it accused of having links with Israel’s intelligence service and facilitating its operations in the country.
The Oslo-based Iran Human Rights group said on X that the man, whom it identified as 27-year-old architecture student Aghil Keshavarz, was sentenced to death on charges related to espionage for Israel “based on confessions extracted under torture”.
The Iran-Israel conflict escalated into a war in June, when Israel struck various targets inside Iran, including through operations that relied on Mossad commandos being deployed deep inside the country.
Executions of Iranians convicted of spying for Israel have significantly increased this year, with multiple death sentences carried out in recent months.
In September 2025, Iran executed a man accused of killing a security officer during unrest sparked by the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini. She died in the custody of Iran’s morality police for allegedly violating the hijab law. The death Amini underscores a broader attack on women’s rights in Iran.
According to a DW report quoting women’s rights activist Mahdieh Golrou, “We are dealing with a system that is deeply misogynistic in its ideology.”
She has been living abroad since 2019, has been arrested several times in Iran for her campaigning in favor of women’s rights and democracy. Women who refuse to wear the mandatory headscarf in public have had a major impact on the image of women in Iranian society.
“Their struggle and civil resistance are far from over, because this system is always finding new ways to undermine women’s rights, such as through the reform of the dowry law,” said Golrou.
The Iranian parliament has adopted changes to the dowry law, with members of parliament describing them as “urgently necessary.”
It lowers the amount of money, usually in the form of gold coins, that a man pays to his bride before the wedding. From 110 gold coins its now down to just 14, undermining the woman’s only source of financial independence in the event of divorce.
With Reuters inputs
