Iranian authorities have executed Omid Behzad and Puria Safvat by hanging after they were accused of spying for Israel. The sentences were carried out in the early hours of August 3, according to Mizan, an agency run by Iran’s judiciary.
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Their executions come amid no sign of a slowdown in the wave of capital punishment in the Islamic Republic, often based on vague national security-related charges, since the start of the war with the United States and Israel.
According to Mizan’s claims, Behzad and Safvat provided “considerable assistance” to Israel’s intelligence service, Mossad, in pursuing its objectives during the June 2025 conflict, which Iran calls the 12-Day War, as well as in the conflict that has continued since February 28.
The agency said the two men had communicated with Mossad officers and channels linked to the intelligence service, sending them coordinates, photographs and information about military and security facilities.
Iran’s judiciary says the two defendants were uncovered by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Intelligence Organization after it “monitored the behavior” of media outlets operating outside Iran, several news channels and the pattern of videos they had submitted.
The Islamic Republic claims Behzad’s activities were uncovered during “technical examinations” of his mobile phone and that he subsequently admitted to them “during questioning.” It is not known, however, under what circumstances this confession may have been obtained. Human rights organizations have for years accused the Iranian authorities of obtaining testimony through coercion.
Mizan also said Behzad had “clearly admitted” to using “location-finding applications such as Google Maps” to identify and mark the coordinates of various sites.
Safvat was also accused in the report of “direct cooperation with Mossad,” but no evidence was presented to support the claim.
The number of executions of people whom human rights organizations describe as political prisoners has increased in Iran since the war with the United States and Israel began on February 28. They include protesters, people suspected of belonging to banned groups and individuals convicted of espionage.
Several human rights organizations estimate that more than 50 people accused in political and security-related cases have been executed since the start of the war. Other organizations say the figure could be much higher.
The charges generally used by Iran in executions carried out since the start of the war include spying for enemy countries, collaborating with Israel and the United States, moharebeh, meaning enmity against God, and armed rebellion through membership in the exiled opposition organization Mojahedin-e Khalq.
In a statement published on July 27, United Nations experts accused the Islamic Republic of using executions to “instill fear throughout society, deter future protests and silence dissent.” They added that “repression, however, only creates more dissent.”
The latest verified data show that 433 people have been executed in Iran so far this year. Many of them had been sentenced to death in cases linked to the January protests, during which security forces killed thousands of people and detained tens of thousands of others.
International observers and human rights groups have raised questions about the fairness of the judicial proceedings. Their concerns also relate to allegations of confessions obtained under coercion and restricted access to due process./ REL
