Iran said Saturday it hanged an Iranian man accused of working for Israeli intelligence during nationwide protests earlier this year, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
Tasnim identified the man as Erfan Kiani and described him as a “hired thug of Mossad,” Israel’s spy agency. It said he had vandalized and set fire to public and private property, spread fear across the central city of Isfahan and wielded a machete.
The agency said Kiani was hanged early Saturday after Iran’s Supreme Court upheld his sentence and legal procedures were completed. Iranian authorities did not immediately provide public evidence supporting the allegation that he worked for Mossad.
The execution comes amid an intensified crackdown in Iran following a wave of mass unrest earlier this year and the war with Israel and the United States. Iranian authorities have repeatedly accused Israel and Western countries of fomenting protests and sabotage inside the country, while rights groups say Tehran uses espionage and national security charges to suppress dissent and intimidate opponents.
Human rights organizations have warned that Iran has expanded executions of protesters, dissidents and people accused of links to Israel in recent weeks, with some cases moving rapidly through courts that critics say fall short of due process. Iran says its courts act according to law and that those executed were involved in violence, sabotage or espionage.