Iran’s authorities have executed software engineer Pedram Madani (pictured) after detaining him for six years.

Accused of spying for Israel, Madani, 41, was hanged in Ghezelhesar Prison in Karaj following his transfer from Evin Prison in nearby Tehran.

Mizan Online, the website of Iran’s judiciary, declared, “Following the complete process of criminal procedure and the final confirmation and upholding of the verdict by the Supreme Court, he was brought to justice and executed.”

Authorities asserted that Madani transmitted classified information and held meetings with officers of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service abroad, including in Brussels. They alleged he travelled to “the occupied territories” — Israel — and received euros and bitcoin.

On three occasions, Iran’s Supreme Court overturned the death sentence but confirmed it on the fourth occasion.

The engineer’s family and activists noted that he was denied his rights in a flawed case.

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Narges Mohammadi, on temporary release from her 13-year, 9-month sentence, said:

The Islamic Republic uses the death penalty as a tool to instill fear and intensify repression against the people.

There was not even a chosen lawyer on the case. Pedram’s cellmates testify he confessed falsely and under pressure. In Revolutionary Courts these false confessions serve as the basis of death sentences.

In April, Iran executed Mohsen Langarneshin for allegedly aiding Mossad in the 2022 killing of a Revolutionary Guards colonel in Tehran. Rights groups said the execution followed an unfair trial and a confession extracted under torture.

Killed “To Instill Fear Within Society”

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the director of Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights echoed that Madani “was sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court without access to a lawyer of his choice, through an unfair and non-transparent process orchestrated by security agencies”.

The legal monitor Dadban explained that, in the trial before a Revolutionary Court, the defendant is denied the possibility of defending himself and the judge has “no option” of rejecting the case. The charge of espionage for the “Zionist regime” is “more than a legal accusation — it is a charge used as a tool to issue and carry out the death penalty”.

The engineer’s family was told throughout his detention that silence would save his life.

Filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof quoted one of Madani’s cellmates: “Every time his interrogator came, he would go talk to them. He said, ‘Don’t worry, we know an injustice has been done to you. We’ll fix it ourselves.’”

Three months before his execution, one of Madani’s interrogators instructed him to “submit another request for retrial because the case will be fixed,” another source said.

In a video posted on Tuesday, Madani’s mother, a retired teacher, finally spoke out. She described him as a “man who loves his country and loves his family”: “My son’s case is full of flaws and his death sentence must be revoked.”