Maybe the Times’ Iran team is attempting to ingratiate itself in hopes of obtaining permission to make a minder-accompanied trip to the Islamic Republic to cover the eventual funeral of Mojtaba Khamenei.

By Ira Stoll, The Washington Free Beacon

The Associated Press says “Public executions are not uncommon in Iran.”

The watchdog group Iran Human Rights counted 459 such executions between 2008 and 2025, frequently featuring large audiences, including children.

United Against Nuclear Iran reports that Iran “regularly carries out executions in public. In many of these cases, the victim is publicly hanged from a construction crane, an especially slow and painful execution method.”

And that doesn’t even mention the extrajudicial killings of pro-democracy protesters.

President Trump has said between 30,000 and 52,000 of them were murdered this year by the Iranian regime, many shot in the forehead.

So how did the New York Times spin its own news article on two recent executions? With the absurd, false claim that “Iran has long been one of the world’s most frequent users of capital punishment, but public executions are extremely rare.”

The New York Times describes public executions in Iran as “extremely rare.”

The article appeared under a joint byline. Leily Nikounazar is, according to her LinkedIn profile, a 2010 graduate of “Tehran’s Faculty of News.”

Sanjana Varghese’s New York Times bio says she has freelanced for Al Jazeera, the Qatar-owned outlet that has harbored Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists.

Her main job before the New York Times was at Airwars, which is funded by anti-Israel nonprofits including George Soros’s Open Society Foundations and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

Neither Nikounazar nor Varghese, who lives in London but “grew up between Canada and Bahrain,” immediately returned my queries about whether they planned a correction.

Adverbs are frequently trouble in news articles. The Times might have gotten away with calling public executions unusual or rare. But “extremely rare” pushes the envelope in a way that makes the Times‘ extremely slanted coverage extremely obvious.

Maybe the Times Iran team is attempting to ingratiate itself in hopes of obtaining permission to make a minder-accompanied trip to the Islamic Republic to cover the eventual funeral of Mojtaba Khamenei, the same way it covered the funeral this month of Ali Khamenei with two Times video journalists, a photographer, and a correspondent.

(“We had two handlers with us throughout the trip … he would tell us we could not photograph certain places or say we couldn’t go to certain places without explaining why. … Iran contains multitudes. … I came away wishing we had more time and opportunity to document that complexity,” Times Middle East correspondent Abdi Latif Dahir said earlier this month.)

In the past, the New York Times has been more accurate about the issue. The Times itself reported in 2012:

“Executions are very public events in Iran, with authorities setting up building cranes at the scene of the crime or on the central square of the city where the crime took place. … The convicted criminal is often brought in around dusk, arriving at the square where a crane or scaffolding with ropes and nooses await him. Families, both of the victim and the convicted cheer and wail, often there are last minute pleas for a pardon. An Islamic judge, always present at the scene, will also officially ask the family of the victim for forgiveness. Usually crowds try to influence such decisions by calling for forgiveness or for the execution to take place.”

In 2012, the Times went so far as to publish a slideshow of the pictures of the hangings, preceded by a disclaimer or trigger warning: “Please note that this slideshow includes some graphic images.”

There was a pause in public executions during the COVID pandemic, but that had more to do with an attempt to avoid mass gatherings than with any liberalization of Iranian practices.

An Iranian judge in 2008 banned public executions and restricted news coverage, but the “ban,” like the so-called fatwa against nuclear weapons, was more public relations than reality, and it came with enough exceptions to drive a portable gallows through.

The annual report by Iran Human Rights on the death penalty in Iran notes that “the number of public executions increased dramatically after 2010, reaching an annual average of 50 to 60 between 2011-2015.”

In 2025, the report says, “11 executions were carried out in public spaces, where children were amongst the spectators, a practice intended to spread fear and reinforce the state’s policy of intimidation.”

A graphic from Iran Human Rights 2025 report on the death penalty in Iran. It doesn’t include extrajudicial killings by the government.

According to the report, among the crimes punishable by the death penalty under Iran’s Islamic law are incest, rape, adultery, consensual gay sex, apostasy, insulting the prophet, and tafkhiz, or intercrural sex where the “active party” is non-Muslim and the “passive party” is Muslim. Approved execution methods include “hanging, firing squads, crucifixion and stoning.”

The post ‘Public executions are extremely rare’ in Iran, the New York Times claims appeared first on World Israel News.

Heartbreaking footage shows six Iranian men sentenced to death singing revolutionary songs in defiance of the regime that has executed thousands of other political opponents.

This should be shared everywhere.

The length these men must have gone to, and others involved to get this video out to the world.

These 6 men, just before they were executed by the Islamic Regime, sing a final song of Resistance against the terrorist regime.

Honour them.… pic.twitter.com/aLnQCvmFqr

— Kosher (@koshercockney) April 27, 2026

The post WATCH: Iranian men condemned to death defiantly sing moments before execution appeared first on World Israel News.

Dozens of executions have been reported in Iran this year, including cases involving individuals accused of protest-related offenses or espionage.

By JNS

Iran has executed a man convicted of spying for Israel and transmitting sensitive information, the Islamic Republic’s judiciary news outlet Mizan reported on Wednesday, according to Reuters.

The Iranian outlet identified the man as Mehdi Farid, saying he held a position in a civil defense unit within what it described as a sensitive organization and used his access to gather intelligence for Israel’s Mossad.

According to the report, Iran’s Supreme Court upheld the death sentence and the execution was carried out after the completion of legal procedures.

Dozens of executions have been reported in Iran this year, including cases involving individuals accused of protest-related offenses or espionage.

Rights organizations say Iran carries out more executions per capita than any other country.

The post Iran says it executed a man accused of spying for Israel appeared first on World Israel News.

The regime is also said to have accused the three, including the national wrestling champion Mohammadi, of killing two police officers on Jan. 8.

By JNS

The Iranian regime reportedly hanged three men on Thursday, including a 19-year-old wrestler, according to human rights organizations.

The Islamic Republic is said to have accused Mehdi Ghasemi, Saleh Mohammadi and Saeed Davoudi, whom it reportedly executed at a prison, of “waging war against God.”

The regime is also said to have accused the three, including the national wrestling champion Mohammadi, of killing two police officers on Jan. 8.

“The Iranian regime executed a 19-year-old for demanding democracy,” stated Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.). “I stand with his memory and the thousands of other young Iranians.”

“Those who grieve the elimination of Iranian leaders over murdered protesters is telling,” the senator said.

The post Iran reportedly executed three men, including teen wrestler appeared first on World Israel News.

Israel’s prison system is preparing to implement bill mandating the execution of terrorists convicted of murder, with gallows dubbed the “Israeli Green Mile” being prepared.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

Israel’s prison system has begun preparing facilities to execute terrorists convicted of murder, according to a report published by Channel 13.

While the bill mandating the execution of terrorists convicted of murder has not yet been passed by the Knesset, the Israel Prison Service is already gearing up to implement the bill, which is expected to be passed during the current Knesset session.

On November 10, the Knesset approved the first reading of the Death Penalty for Terrorists bill by a margin of 39-16, sending it to committee in preparation for its second and third readings.

Last month, the Knesset’s National Security Ministry began working on the bill to clear the way for its passage.

Within the past few days, according to the Channel 13 report, prison officials have already begun setting up a compound, dubbed the “Israeli Green Mile,” where executions will take place.

While the bill currently under consideration does not specify the means of execution to be used, the Israel Prison Service has reportedly settled on hanging.

The execution facility will use a remote-controlled gallows, enabling a team of three prison guards to hang convicted terrorists by simultaneously pressing three activation buttons.

The guards conducting the executions will be selected on a voluntary basis and will undergo specialized training to handle the sensitive nature of the procedure.

The IPS expects the death penalty law, once passed, will initially be used on terrorists from Hamas’ infamous Nukhba Force who took part in the atrocities of October 7, 2023.

Only later will the death penalty be implemented for terrorists convicted of deadly attacks in Judea, Samaria, and pre-1967 Israel, the report said.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir (Otzma Yehudit) lauded the IPS’ preparations.

“By hanging, by electric chair, by lethal injection, by firing squad. It doesn’t matter how. Terrorists who raped our daughters and massacred our children deserve only one thing: the death penalty. It is just. It is moral. It is a duty.”

The post Israel gearing up for terrorist executions appeared first on World Israel News.

The execution did not take place, and officials later said Soltani had not been sentenced to death.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

International concern intensified this month over the status of Iranian detainee Erfan Soltani after conflicting accounts emerged about whether he had been executed or remained alive in custody, according to human rights groups, i24 reports.

The uncertainty followed a series of actions by Iranian authorities that family members said strongly suggested Soltani faced imminent execution.

After his arrest on January 8 in Fardis, west of Tehran, during unrest linked to nationwide demonstrations, officials summoned his relatives to the prison on January 14 for what was described as a final visit.

The execution did not take place, and officials later said Soltani had not been sentenced to death.

For days, Soltani’s whereabouts and condition remained unclear. Reports circulated claiming he had been killed while held by the Revolutionary Guards, while his family said they had no direct contact or confirmation from authorities.

The situation shifted on Sunday, January 18, when the Norway-based Kurdish human rights organization Hengaw reported that Soltani’s family was allowed a brief in-person meeting.

The visit confirmed he was alive and in stable condition, marking the first direct verification of his status.

Soltani’s case drew particular attention after early reports identified him as one of the first detainees linked to the protests expected to face execution.

Rights groups and international media cited his situation as emblematic of Iran’s broader crackdown following the demonstrations.

Relatives have repeatedly disputed claims that Soltani took part in protests.

In interviews with CBS News, family members said he earned a living as a clothing seller and had no record of political activism. They said authorities never presented evidence connecting him to protest activity, though they acknowledged he opposed Iran’s current leadership.

According to available information, Soltani was convicted on charges that included participating in demonstrations, conspiring against national security, and engaging in propaganda against the state.

He has been held at Karaj Prison, a facility known for housing political detainees and individuals arrested in connection with protest-related cases.

Reports suggesting Soltani was at risk of execution prompted reactions abroad, including statements from President Donald Trump, who publicly urged Iran to halt executions of protesters and warned of consequences if the killings continued. Iranian authorities have not publicly acknowledged any foreign influence on Soltani’s case

The post Uncertainty surrounded the fate of Iranian detainee Erfan Soltani, who was slated for execution appeared first on World Israel News.

No senior official has pledged restraint, and the regime is widely expected to resume hangings once domestic control is fully restored and international attention fades.

By Mardo Soghom, Middle East Forum

President Donald Trump not only canceled anticipated military action against the Islamic Republic of Iran, but he also publicly thanked the regime’s leaders on January 16, 2026, for not carrying out 800 executions—an event that no official Iranian source had announced.

The statement stunned Iranians in the United States and abroad, who had pinned their hopes on Trump’s repeated pledges to protect protesters by punishing the regime’s leadership.

“I greatly respect the fact that all scheduled hangings, which were to take place yesterday (over 800 of them), have been cancelled by the leadership of Iran. Thank you!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

The remark appeared to embolden Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. On January 17, he met with senior officials and acknowledged that thousands had been killed while warning that the authorities would continue to pursue what he called “troublemakers.”

“We do not intend to drag the country toward war,” Khamenei said, “but we will not let domestic criminals go free.” He also issued threats aimed beyond Iran’s borders, adding, “Nor will we let international criminals go.”

On the same day, Tehran’s prosecutor also dismissed Trump’s remarks that Iranian authorities had canceled the execution of 800 people as “nonsense and baseless talk,” stressing that the authorities’ response would be “decisive, deterrent, and swift.”

Shortly afterward, the United States Department of State posted a message in Persian on X, warning that Tehran was preparing options to target U.S. bases.

The post reiterated that “all options remain on the table” and cautioned that any attack on American assets would be met with “very, very powerful force,” concluding: “We have said this before, and we say it again: Do not play games with President Trump.”

Trump’s decision appears to have been justified internally by the claim that Iran had canceled the execution of 800 detainees.

While Iranian judicial authorities had announced plans to begin executions on January 14 and 15, no official statement indicated that 800 people were to be hanged in a single day.

Trump introduced that figure without attribution, seemingly to rationalize his decision to withhold the intervention he had hinted at earlier in the week, when he urged Iranians to remain in the streets and continue protesting.

The sequence of events since January 9—when demonstrations escalated and began to resemble a revolutionary uprising—suggests that the U.S. administration was considering immediate military action that never materialized.

During the same period, Iranian security forces launched a nationwide crackdown, using sustained military force over four days and killing what activists estimate to be at least 20,000 civilians, effectively breaking the momentum of the uprising.

The scale of the bloodshed exceeds the number of deaths in a full month of the war in Ukraine, where nearly 1.5 million combatants are engaged in fighting.

Ukrainian estimates put Russian casualties at roughly 1,000 killed and wounded per day, with the total daily death toll typically in the low hundreds.

Reports circulating on Iranian social media describe security forces killing wounded protesters inside hospitals or denying them medical treatment.

Hundreds of young Iranians reportedly have lost one or both eyes after being shot at close range with birdshot, echoing the tactics used during the 2022 Mahsa Amini protests.

There is little to suggest that the Iranian regime has permanently halted executions. No senior official has pledged restraint, and the regime is widely expected to resume hangings once domestic control is fully restored and international attention fades.

It remains unclear what assurances, if any, Trump has received that executions will not resume.

Some observers argue that Trump has not entirely abandoned the option of striking regime targets. Significant military assets are moving toward the region, including the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group, en route from the South China Sea.

NBC and ABC have reported that Trump paused the strike after being warned that Iran could retaliate against U.S. forces in the region.

A carrier strike group would be central both to deterrence and to countering Iranian ballistic missile launches, should escalation occur. It would take up to ten days for the USS Abraham Lincoln to reach the Fifth Fleet area of operations.

The deployment, however, also may be intended as a warning, rather than a prelude to an air campaign. In that case, Trump’s decision would amount to a choice to deter further atrocities, rather than punish for those already committed.

For Tehran, which has already carried out mass killings and reasserted control, such deterrence may come at little cost.

The post Iran denies Trump’s claim that it halted hangings appeared first on World Israel News.

Iranian government claims it captured an agent working on behalf of Israel’s Mossad to operate among anti-regime demonstrators, with a second alleged Mossad agent executed for espionage.

By World Israel News Staff

The Iranian government announced Wednesday the execution of a man who allegedly worked as a Mossad agent, carrying out surveillance on behalf of Israel in exchange for cryptocurrency payments.

According to a statement by the semi-official Tasnim outlet, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the alleged spy, Ali Ardestani, was executed by hanging early Wednesday morning after Iran’s top court upheld the death sentence handed down in the case.

Prosecutors claimed Ardestani was recruited by the Mossad over the internet and was paid various sums of cryptocurrency to carry out a variety of tasks, including photographing and filming specific locations and providing information related to targeted individuals.

Ardestani also allegedly maintained contacts with other Mossad assets in Iran, and is said to have met in person with a Mossad operative, to whom he passed on intelligence data.

During his interrogation, authorities claimed, Ardestani said he had worked with the Mossad both for money, with rewards totaling over $1 million, and a visa to the United Kingdom.

Tasnim reported that Ardestani was arrested while carrying out an assignment for his Mossad handlers.

Wednesday’s execution is the fourth death sentence carried out in Iran since September 2025 against an alleged Mossad spy.

Two days earlier, Iran announced that another Mossad operative had been arrested in Tehran.

According to state media, the suspect had been working in conjunction with anti-regime protesters in the capital.

Among other tasks, the agent reportedly confessed during questioning that he had worked to recruit new assets for the Mossad, identifying candidates through social media.

The suspect’s identity was not made public.

The post Iran executes alleged Mossad spy, says it captured Israeli agent promoting protests appeared first on World Israel News.

According to an October poll by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, Barghouti would win in a landslide if a vote for the leadership of the Palestinian Authority were held today.

By Akiva Van Koningsveld, Amelie Botbol, JNS

Imprisoned Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti should be put to death over his leading role in the 2000-05 Second Intifada terrorist war against Israel, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said on Monday.

“Marwan Barghouti should be taken out,” Ben-Gvir declared at a faction meeting of his Otzma Yehudit Party at the Knesset in Jerusalem, responding to a question from JNS about a petition by Alon Liel, a Reichman University lecturer and former Israeli diplomat, calling for the terrorist’s release.

“Marwan Barghouti is a murderer; he is a terrorist,” the national security minister emphasized. He added, “By the way, in an Israeli prison today, he gets worse conditions than the president of Venezuela. …

“I think we actually need to learn something from the United States. The death penalty for terrorists. That’s what’s needed,” Ben-Gvir said.

A Knesset bill to impose the death penalty on convicted terrorists passed the first of three readings required to become law on Nov. 10 after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came out in support of the legislation.

Barghouti, 66, one of the most notorious figures of the Second Intifada, was convicted in 2002 for masterminding terrorist attacks against Israelis and foreign nationals. He was sentenced to five life terms plus 40 years.

According to an October poll by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, Barghouti would win in a landslide if a vote for the leadership of the Palestinian Authority were held today.

P.A. leader Mahmoud Abbas said on Dec. 23 that securing the release of Barghouti “has always been” at the top of his personal and political agendas.

Although Barghouti’s name has periodically surfaced during prisoner-exchange negotiations, successive Israeli governments have refused to release him, citing a risk that he could reignite mass terrorist violence.

Liel, who served as the director general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry from 2000 to 2001, urged fellow academics on Dec. 22 to join him in signing a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump urging action to free Barghouti.

The petition, which was accidentally shared with students at Herzliya’s Reichman University, claimed that Barghouti’s release could help renew “peace efforts” between Israel and the Palestinians. Liel’s missive further stated that Barghouti is viewed by many as “the most prominent Palestinian leader of our generation” and that he possesses the ability to unite Arabs in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza.

At the beginning of last month, approximately 200 cultural and literary figures from around the world signed the same letter as part of an international initiative calling for the release of the top terrorist.

Among the celebrities who signed the petition were American Marxist activist Angela Davis, Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei, Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood, and actors Benedict Cumberbatch, Cynthia Nixon, Mark Ruffalo, and Ian McKellen.

The post Imprisoned arch-terrorist must be executed, says Israeli minister appeared first on World Israel News.

Hamas would tell the hostages they were choosing who would be hurt or killed, bringing in a “doctor” beforehand to heighten the fear and make the threat feel terrifyingly real.


"When they took us out for execution, I sat there helpless, bound, with a cocked Kalashnikov and an open safety pressed to my temple."

Listen as freed hostage Segev Kalfon recounts his harrowing experience as a hostage in the tunnels of Gaza for 738 days.

The constant mental… pic.twitter.com/hxMMBvue92

— Embassy of Israel to the USA (@IsraelinUSA) November 24, 2025

The post WATCH: Former hostage recalls moment he thought Hamas would execute him appeared first on World Israel News.

The increase in executions—usually carried out by hanging at dawn—has reportedly inspired hunger strikes among prisoners around the country.

By David Swindle, The Algemeiner

The Islamist regime in Iran has ramped up its executions in what one human rights watchdog group described as “an unprecedented increase compared to previous years,” leading observers to raise alarm bells over Tehran’s crackdown on dissent.

Iran has executed 1,286 human beings so far this year through the end of October, according to a new report by the Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA).

The organization identified 31 recent executions on murder and drug-related charges, adding, “As of the time of this report, prison authorities and responsible institutions have not publicly announced these executions.”

While most of the executed are accused of murder or drug charges, human rights groups say these charges are often fabricated, conceal the real crime of political opposition, and target minority groups such as Baluchis, Kurds, and Arabs.

The Times reported on Sunday that family members of political prisoners on Iran’s death row now wait by their phones in a state of terror and trauma.

“Every phone call is a nightmare for me, especially in the morning. It might bring heartbreaking news,” one woman in Tehran told the British paper. “Every night I go to bed with the same dread of what tomorrow may bring.”

The increase in executions—usually carried out by hanging at dawn—has reportedly inspired hunger strikes among prisoners around the country.

One unnamed Iranian activist in exile described to The Times how the executions served as intimidation against those who would resist, saying that “the noose has become the regime’s loudspeaker” and “every hanging is a message: we are still in charge.”

Amnesty International called the increase in killings “state-sanctioned murder on an industrial scale.”

Human rights groups have noted the current pace is the highest since 1988, when the regime infamously executed thousands of political prisoners, and has already surpassed last year’s total of 1,001.

“Over the past year, as its nuclear program and network of militant proxies have been severely weakened, the regime has become even more reliant on domestic repression,” Shahin Gobadi, of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, told The Times.

The inhumane conditions of Iranian prisons also act as a tool to repress those who would speak out for freedom.

Those who have escaped describe being packed so tightly into cells that they needed to sleep in shifts under lights that remained on permanently.

On Thursday, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) released a report about Goli Kouhkan, a victim of child marriage who has lived on death row in Iran and is scheduled for execution in December.

“Girls are married off at age 13 or even younger and subjected to decades of beatings and rape, with no real possibility of divorce or escape,” said Bahar Ghandehari, director of advocacy at CHRI.

“Many are often killed by family members if they try. Courts must consider these circumstances as mitigating factors when sentencing.”

Ghandehari explained how “the Iranian regime is deeply complicit in these killings because it does not take even the most basic measures to end child marriage or to protect girls and women from domestic abuse—situations that all too often end in death, although it is usually that of the woman.”

Zahra Rahimi co-founded the Imam Ali Popular Students Relief Society and has described the process by which child brides are forced into marriages in Iran.

“The judge will ask questions such as, ‘What is the price of meat? If you want to buy something for your home, what do you buy?’ and based on the girl’s answers, he will determine whether she is ready for marriage,” Rahimi said.

“In this process, there is no lawyer, psychologist, doctor, expert, or trusted person to talk to the child … Where the court did not allow marriages to take place [for example, when the girls were under 9 years old], the girls were sent into ‘temporary marriages’ until they turned 13, and then their marriage would become legal.”

The post Iran’s execution spree continues unabated, alarming human rights groups appeared first on World Israel News.

Iranian judiciary claims that a top agent of Israel’s Mossad operating in Iran has been executed, the latest death penalty case against an alleged spy.

By World Israel News Staff

Iranian authorities on Monday executed a local man accused of spying on behalf of Israel’s Mossad agency, a state news agency reported.

The man was identified as Bahman Choubi-Asl, an Iranian national whom state officials accused of “corruption on earth” for his alleged work with the Mossad.

Mizan, the official outlet of the Iranian judiciary, claimed Choubi-Asl was “one of the most important spies for Israel in Iran.”

The execution was carried out after Iran’s supreme court rejected an appeal, upholding the capital punishment order.

According to the Iranian judiciary, Choubi-Asl worked as a database specialist, and had access to sensitive national projects.

The Mossad reportedly recruited him to gain access to Iranian data centers.

“The main goal of Mossad in attracting the defendant’s cooperation was to obtain the database of governmental institutions and create a breach in Iranian data centers,” Iran’s judiciary said.

Choubi-Asl is said to have been given communication tools by the Mossad in order to maintain contact with his handlers, who paid him for the data transfers.

On dozens of occasions during at least nine trips abroad, investigators claimed, Choubi-Asl met in person with his Mossad handlers, including during visits to Ireland, Armenia, and India.

“The defendant’s deliberate and conscious cooperation with the enemy’s intelligence service was proven,” according to court documents cited by Mizan.

Since the 12-day war in June between Israel and Iran, close to a dozen people have been executed by Iran on suspicion of working as spies on behalf of Israel.

The post Iran hangs ‘top Israeli spy,’ Tehran claims appeared first on World Israel News.

Guards repeatedly pressured Shahbazi to sign pre-written confessions, promising his death sentence would be commuted to three years if he cooperated in front of his lawyer.

By Jewish Breaking News

Iranian authorities executed Babak Shahbazi on Wednesday, just one day after moving the father of two to solitary confinement when a Tehran court rejected his final appeal for a retrial.

Shahbazi, 44, had been convicted of spying for Israel based on what his family says was fabricated evidence and coerced testimony extracted through months of torture.

A person close to the family told Iran International that authorities never provided the customary final visit typically granted before executions.

“The court rejected our request for a retrial for the third time this morning and moved him to solitary confinement by around noon,” the family contact said.

“We are worried they may have taken him to solitary confinement in preparation for execution.”

Hours later, state media confirmed the execution had been carried out at Ghezel Hesar prison, located about 20 kilometers northwest of Tehran.

Babak Shahbazi

Central to the case were alleged messages Shahbazi sent to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in 2022, offering assistance against the Russian invasion. Iranian authorities later doctored these communications to make them appear as correspondence with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and military officials.

Shahbazi was arrested in January 2024 and convicted on charges of “spying for Israel” and “corruption on earth.” Judge Abolghasem Salavati, sanctioned by the United States in 2019 for conducting unfair trials and extracting forced confessions, handed down the death sentence in May 2025.

Prison conditions during Shahbazi’s detention appeared designed to break him psychologically. Authorities placed him in a cell with an ISIS member, resulting in severe beatings that left both his eyes bruised during a family visit.

Guards repeatedly pressured Shahbazi to sign pre-written confessions, promising his death sentence would be commuted to three years if he cooperated in front of his lawyer.

When he refused, authorities proceeded with unsigned documents.

“He refused to sign because he hadn’t done those things. They even slipped in pages that weren’t his writing and told him to sign, but he didn’t,” says the source.

“Despite that, the court sentenced him to death on the basis of unsigned dictated notes.”

Rights groups condemned the proceedings against Shahbazi as fundamentally flawed from the start.

His execution marks the latest in a series of similar cases, with human rights monitors documenting that Tehran has put to death at least nine individuals for alleged Mossad espionage since its humiliating 12-day humiliating conflict in June with Israel.

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According to the Death Penalty Information Center, during the first half of 2025, nearly half of Iran’s executions targeted those convicted of drug offenses.

By David Swindle, The Algemeiner

The Islamic regime in Iran accelerated its execution machine last month, killing at least 152 prisoners according to the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights.

The figure represents a surge of 70 percent compared to the 94 executions conducted in August 2024.

While Hengaw has identified 148 of those killed last month, four individuals remain unknown.

Two people killed include Roozbeh Vadi, alleged to have engaged in “espionage for Israel,” and Mehdi Asgharzadeh, an alleged ISIS member. Iran executed at least five women for murder and one woman on drug charges.

According to Hengaw, two or more of the executions took place in public in Beyram and Kordkuy, cities in the country’s southern and northern provinces, respectively.

On Monday, the Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA) released a report of human rights violations in Iran during August, noting that the number of executions had increased 40 percent compared to June and July, bringing the total execution count to 837 for the year.

In comparison, the Islamic regime executed 930 people for the entire year of 2024.

HRANA broke down last month’s executions by charges, finding 87 drug offenses, 60 murder charges, two rapes, one for security offenses, and one person’s offenses are unknown.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, during the first half of 2025, nearly half of Iran’s executions targeted those convicted over drugs.

Iran killed one person on the charge of “corruption on earth,” which translates from the Koranic term “mofsed-e fel-arz” (مفسد فی الارض), a vague concept that Islamic judges have often applied toward political dissidents, alleged spies, or religious converts.

One tool that HRANA identifies Iran regularly deploying in its judicial system is forced confessions.

“Extracting forced confessions from political and ideological defendants, followed by broadcasting them on state television, is one of the regime’s routine practices against its opponents,” the human rights group stated.

“In 2024, HRANA documented 28 cases of forced confessions. This month as well, Iran’s state television aired the forced confessions of a group of Christian converts.”

HRANA also found 73 arrests last month for citizens speaking out about their political views and beliefs; in addition, the state sentenced 27 people to 658 months in prison, 132 months of exile, and 130 lashes for speech offenses.

United Nations spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani warned last week that the human rights situation in Iran could be even worse than documented figures suggested.

“The high number of executions indicates a systematic pattern of using the death penalty as a tool of state intimidation, with disproportionate targeting of ethnic minorities and migrants,” Shamdasani said.

“Public executions add an extra layer of outrage upon human dignity … not only on the dignity of the people concerned, the people who are executed, but also on all those who have to bear witness”

Shamdasani warned that “the psychological trauma of bearing witness to somebody being hanged in public, particularly for children, is unacceptable.”

She argued that the death penalty “should never be imposed for conduct that is protected under international human rights law.”

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Saturday announced the capture of eight people accused of aiding Israel’s Mossad espionage agency. During Iran’s 12-day war with Israel in June, police arrested as many as 21,000 individuals.

Australia announced the expulsion of Iran’s ambassador on Aug. 26, giving the diplomat seven days to leave following the discovery that the Islamic regime had directed antisemitic terrorism against the country’s Jews.

“These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said. “They were attempts to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in our community.”

Mike Burgess, director general of Australia’s security agency, said “they’re just using cut-outs, including people who are criminals and members of organized crime gangs to do their bidding or direct their bidding,”

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Aug. 24 that “they want Iran to be obedient to America. The Iranian nation will stand with all of its power against those who have such erroneous expectations … People who ask us not to issue slogans against the US … to have direct negotiations with the US only see appearances … This issue is unsolvable.”

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Iran accused one of its own nuclear scientists of working on behalf of Israel’s Mossad, aiding in the targeted killings of other researchers working for Iran’s nuclear program.

By World Israel News Staff

The Iranian judiciary announced Wednesday that a nuclear scientist had been executed after he was convicted of aiding an Israeli spy agency during the 12-day war with Israel in June.

In a statement released by the Mizan Online website, which represents Iran’s court system, the regime said that Rozbeh Vadi, a member of Iran’s Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute under the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, was hanged for aiding the Mossad in the targeted killings of fellow Iranian nuclear scientists.

“Rozbeh Vadi… who had been arrested and tried on charges of espionage and intelligence cooperation with the Zionist regime, was executed this morning, August 6, 2025, after the completion of full criminal due process and the upholding of the verdict by the Supreme Court,” Mizan reported.

Iran claimed that Vadi had confessed to investigators that he worked with the Mossad after being recruited by Israeli agents online.

After completing an assessment process online with the Mossad, Vadi met with his handlers in Vienna on five occasions, Mizan reported.

Vadi was said to have been paid in cryptocurrency after transferring information on other Iranian nuclear scientists.

Mizan claimed that at least one nuclear researcher was killed due to information passed by Vadi to the Mossad.

“Vadi also provided Mossad with information on one of Iran’s martyred nuclear scientists who was killed during the recent Israeli aggression.”

However, a report by the anti-regime outlet Iran International noted that two nuclear scientists who worked closely with Vadi, Abdolhamid Minouhchehr and Ahmad Zolfaghari, were killed by Israel during the June war.

Iranian security forces began tracking Vadi after one of his trips to Vienna, Mizan said, and eventually identified him as the source of information leaks to the Mossad.

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Israeli military says the video shows Hamas killing a Palestinian civilian to instill fear and tighten its grip on power.

By David Brummer, World Israel News

The Israeli military on Sunday released footage showing what it says is a Hamas terrorist publicly executing a Palestinian man in Gaza City, i24News reported.

The incident, which occurred over the weekend, was described by the IDF as a rare glimpse into Hamas’s brutal tactics to maintain control over the local population.

General Ghassan Alian, head of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), shared the video and issued a statement directly addressing Gaza residents.

“Hamas, terrorists, and criminals are killing you and do not care about your lives,” he said. He likened the group’s rule to that of a dictator and accused it of exploiting civilians to hold onto power.

Alian called the execution a “desperate and failed attempt to sow fear” and maintain the group’s dominance in the enclave.

No details were provided about the identity of the victim or the circumstances surrounding the execution.

The release comes as Israeli forces intensify operations in Gaza, particularly in Jabalia and Khan Yunis, pushing into areas not previously reached.

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