Amid the ongoing protests in the country, the government of Iran executed a man who was convicted of passing crucial information relating to the Iranian administration to the intelligence agencies of America and Israel, the two major rival countries.
The now-deceased man, named Mahmoud Mousavi Majid, was arrested in 2018 “over the charge of espionage so that the case of his betrayal to his country will be closed forever” and got executed as a punishment on Monday, July 20th.
The Iranian judiciary’s Mizan Online website announced the news on its portal on the same day. Its spokesperson, Gholamhossein Esmaili, informed that the man, who previously worked as a translator, was charged with crime of spying against its motherland and had been found with a huge amount of money which was sent by the US’s CIA and Israel’s Mossad for transferring sensitive information to them.
Last month, the judiciary said Majd had spied on former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Qassem Soleimani. However, it added that his moves dint play a role in the top official’s murder early in 2020.
In a sudden attack on January 3rd, the US dropped explosives through its drone in the capital city of Iraq, Baghdad, killing the leader of IRGC’s Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani. This gave rise to increased tensions between the countries and many feared of a full-blow war in the near future. In a retaliatory move, Tehran fired a cascade of ballistic missiles aiming at the bases in Iraq which housed US soldiers.
The Persian website further said that although Majid was not an IRGC member, he “infiltrated many sensitive areas under the cover of being a translator.”
He was found guilty of having been paid “American dollars to reveal information on adviser convoys, military equipment and communication systems, commanders and their movements, important geographical areas, codes and passwords” until there were eyebrows raised against his work and he came under the radar for his spying. He was later snatched of his access to the information.
In the past week, Iran executed another spy who served the CIA and sold information pertaining to the vital missile programme of Iran.
Majid’s execution was concluded between prevailing tensions in the country over the announced executions for three men who participated in the anti-government protests held last year in November.
Hundreds of thousands of people came forward to show their anguish towards the death sentences served to the innocent men. Social media was flooded with campaigns demanding the withdrawal of the order, with many petitions being filed on charge.org, urging Iran to revoke the decision.
Marking a major success and relief for the accused men and their family, one of their lawyers, Babak Paknia, told the media that the judiciary had reversed the death sentences, suspending the same on Sunday.
The men were identified as Amirhossein Moradi, 25, Mohammad Rajabi, 25, and Saeed Tamjidi, 27.
