Overview

• Rouzbeh Vadi, a PhD-level researcher at Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, was hanged on August 6 after being convicted of passing classified nuclear information to Mossad that led to the killing of an Iranian scientist during Israel’s June air campaign.
• Mehdi Aghazadeh was executed the same day for plotting sabotage on behalf of the Islamic State group after a conviction in a revolutionary court.
• State media reported that Iran’s Supreme Court upheld both death sentences and affirmed that full legal procedures were observed before the executions at Evin Prison.
• Human rights organizations including Amnesty International and Iran Human Rights condemned the televised confessions and expedited trials, warning they violated domestic and international due-process standards.
• These latest executions bring to at least eight the number of alleged spies hanged since June as Tehran escalates its counterespionage crackdown against foreign intelligence networks.