29-year-old Erfan Shakourzadeh was an aerospace engineer and worked for an Iranian research organisation within satellite operations, according to Mizan and Iran Human Rights Society.
According to Mizan, he shared classified scientific information with the CIA and Mossad. IHRS says he was arrested in 2025, and confessed under duress. (NTB)
Erfan Shakourzadeh has been executed by the Iranian authorities. There is a great difference in how the media present the case. While The Telegraph writes that he was tortured for nine months, Norwegian News Agency NTB writes as though the accusations may be legitimate.
Iran executed a man whom the regime accused of espionage for the CIA and Mossad.
Erfan Shakourzadeh, 29, was hanged after being accused of espionage and collaboration with the United States and Israel, according to Iranian state news media.
Shakourzadeh, a student at Iran University of Science and Technology in Tehran, was arrested in February 2025, accused of collaborating with hostile states.
He was allegedly subjected to nine months of “severe physical and psychological torture in solitary confinement” in order to force confessions, according to Hengaw, a Norway-based human rights organisation.
Shakourzadeh claimed that he was “arrested on the basis of fabricated espionage accusations”, according to a note seen by Hengaw, which was published from prison before the execution.
NTB’s version, which avoids the word “hanged”:
Iran has executed man convicted of espionage
An Iranian man convicted of spying for the United States and Israel has been executed, according to the judiciary’s news agency Mizan.