Iran executes man for membership in banned opposition, links to Israel

TEHRAN: Iran hanged a man on Thursday after he was convicted of membership in a banned opposition group and alleged collaboration with Israel, the judiciary said.

“Sultan-Ali Shirzadi-Fakhr was hanged early this morning for membership in the terrorist group” of the People’s Mujahedin Organisation (MEK) and “collaboration with the Israeli regime’s spy service,” the judiciary’s Mizan Online website reported.

He was also convicted of a capital offence that in Persian means waging war against God, accused of taking part in operations hostile to the Islamic Republic, Mizan said.

It was not clear when he was arrested.

Mizan said he had lived in Spain for a period, but it was not clear whether he held another passport.

The execution is the latest in recent weeks during the war with Israel and the United States, in which authorities have carried out multiple executions of people linked to pre-war protests or affiliated with the MEK.

On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump said Iran had halted alleged plans to execute eight women arrested over pre-war anti-government protests after he urged Tehran to release them.

Iran’s judiciary dismissed the claim as “false news” and said the women were never at risk of execution.