Iran executes four over links to Israel’s intelligence service

TEHRAN: Iran’s judiciary has announced that four rioters convicted of links to the Zionist regime of Israel’s intelligence service Mossad were executed early on Sunday.

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According to official news agency IRNA, the statement by the judiciary identified the four convicts as Hossein Ordukhanzadeh, Shahin Imani Mahmoudabad, Milad Ashrafi Atbatan and Manouchehr Shahbandi Bejandi.

The four men had been arrested in June by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC). A court later sentenced them to death for intelligence cooperation with the Zionist regime and for kidnapping.

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The group had received instructions from Mossad officers on how to use battle rifles for kidnapping purposes while being paid in return with cryptocurrencies, according to a previous IRGC statement.

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Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency reported that those sentenced to death were convicted of “cooperating with the intelligence services of the Zionist regime and for kidnapping,” adding: “With guidance from the Zionist intelligence service, this network of thugs was stealing and destroying private and public property, kidnapping people, and obtaining fake confessions.”

The news agency noted that the four were arrested by the IRGC and Intelligence Ministry.

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A previous IRGC statement said that they learned from the Mossad (Israel’s national intelligence agency) how to handle weapons for kidnapping and that they were paid in cryptocurrencies.