Iranian writer who spoke on Israeli TV sentenced to death

Writer and painter Mehdi Bahman, who spoke with Israeli television, has been convicted of espionage and sentenced to death.

By World Israel News Staff

An Iranian writer and artist who appeared on Israeli television earlier this year has been sentenced to death,

Mehdi Bahman, a dissident author who has criticized the Iranian government and backed the anti-regime protest movement sparked by the death of a young woman in September, spoke with Israel’s Channel 13 in April.

Bahman, a vocal supporter of religious coexistence, appeared in the interview after he was approached by an Israeli woman interested in translating one of his books to Hebrew.

During the April, 2022 interview, Bahman castigated the Iranian government and expressed his support for normalizing ties between Tehran and Jerusalem.

On October 12th, Bahman was arrested and charged with espionage, and was later convicted.

The London-based anti-regime Iran International outlet reported Friday morning that Bahman has been sentenced to death.

The report also said that dissident Shia cleric Masoumi Tehrani, who had worked with Bahman on art gifted to leaders of various other religious groups – including Jews, Christians, Baha’i, Zoroastrians, and Sunni Muslims – was also arrested days after Bahman, though no information was revealed regarding his fate.

Iranian state media has not reported on Bahman’s death sentence.

Since the anti-regime protests broke out in September, at least 11 dissidents have been executed, with hundreds of protesters killed in clashes with state security forces.