Three people sentenced to death in Iran for killing of top nuclear scientist | News

Three suspects are accused of involvement in the murder of scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh and spying for Israel.

According to the Iranian judiciary, three people have been sentenced to death after a court found them guilty of spying for Israel and participating in the assassination of a leading nuclear scientist.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed in November 2020 when his car was ambushed on a highway outside the capital.

“The preliminary trial took place in Urmia, where these persons were sentenced to execution; The case is currently in the appeal process,” Iranian judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir said at a news conference in Tehran on Tuesday.

“After some investigation, three out of eight people arrested in West Azerbaijan province were accused of committing espionage for the occupying regime of Israel,” Jahangir said.

He added that the three are also “accused of transporting equipment to Iran for the assassination of Martyr Fakhrizadeh under the pretext of smuggling alcoholic beverages.”

The decision came after a “comprehensive investigation,” the Iranian official said, adding that charges against four other suspects are currently being examined.

Fakhrizadeh was widely viewed by Western intelligence agencies as the mastermind of secret Iranian efforts in the early 2000s to develop nuclear weapons behind the facade of a declared civilian uranium enrichment program – a claim rejected by Iran.

Iranian officials say the killing occurred when a weapon using an advanced camera and controlled by a satellite zoomed in on the scientist as he drove outside the Iranian capital. Tehran blamed the attack on Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.

Tensions between Iran and Israel have increased since the war in Gaza began in October last year. The Islamic Republic supports a network of allies across the region, including Hamas and Hezbollah, which are in confrontation with Israel in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, respectively.

The regional rivals also engaged in direct confrontations, with Iran firing a barrage of telegraph missiles and drones at Israel in April in response to an airstrike widely attributed to Israel that killed senior Iranian officials in Damascus, Syria.

In October, Iran fired 180 ballistic missiles at targets in Israel, reportedly in response to the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and the assassination of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. Israel responded with three waves of attacks on military targets in three Iranian provinces.