di Shorsh Surme –
While the world celebrates the arrival of the new year, people continue to die in Iran. A person was executed on charges of spying for the Israeli intelligence service Mossad in the province of Sistan and Baluchestan, state media reported.
“This individual, while knowingly engaging with foreign services, including the Mossad, deliberately collected classified information and, with the collaboration of associates, provided documents to foreign services, particularly the Mossad,” theIrna.
The individual’s identity was not provided and it is unclear when he was arrested. L’Irna reported that the Supreme Court rejected the defendant’s appeal and confirmed the sentence of “immediate execution”.
The execution came a day after 11 police officers were killed in an overnight attack in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan. According to Iranian media, the Baloch militant group Jaish al-Adl claimed responsibility for the attack. The group says it fights for greater rights for the Baluchis and has carried out numerous attacks against Iranian security forces.
The Baluchis are a mainly Sunni ethnic minority in Iran, living predominantly in the poor region of Baluchistan, near the border with Pakistan. Many Baloch took part in last year’s nationwide protests and the area was targeted by a violent crackdown by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which killed hundreds of people during demonstrations in Zahedan and Khash.
