Iran announced that it has executed Reza Asgari, a former government employee it claims passed along information about the country’s nuclear program to the United States.
Iran’s judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said Tuesday that Asgari, who worked in the aerospace department of the defense ministry, was put to death last week. Asgari retired from the ministry in 2016, although it is unclear when he was arrested or when he was sentenced.
“In the last years of his service, he joined the CIA, he sold information about our missiles … to the CIA, and took money from them,” Esmaili said. “He was identified, tried, and sentenced to death.”
The CIA declined to comment about the execution when contacted by the Washington Examiner.
Esmaili also said Tuesday that the execution of Mahmoud Mousavi Majd is set to proceed. Majd has been accused by Iran of helping the U.S. by providing information about military commander Qasem Soleimani’s whereabouts prior to the U.S. drone strike that killed the major general and Kata’ib Hezbollah commander Abu Mahdi al Muhandis.
The Iranian judiciary also announced Tuesday that the Supreme Court of Iran has confirmed death sentences for three young protesters who were detained after last November’s demonstrations. There has been an online campaign to stop the executions of Amirhossein Moradi, Saeed Tamjidi, and Mohammad Rajabi. The Farsi hashtag #DontExecute trended worldwide on Tuesday, resulting in reports that Iran’s government had intervened to disrupt internet access.
Moradi, who was arrested in April along with another student protester, Ali Younesi, was a member of the leading anti-regime dissident group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran. State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus told the Washington Examiner at the time that the students were detained on trumped up charges.
“The Iranian regime is focused on harassing rather than empowering the most talented Iranians,” Ortagus said. “A month ago, the regime arrested two talented students, Ali Younesi and Amir Hossein Moradi, on bogus charges. We join the countless Iranians and others around the world in calling for their release.”
