Iran executes man convicted of spying for US, Israel

TEHRAN: Iran today (Monday) has executed a former translator accused of spying for American and Israeli intelligence agencies, including helping to locate a top Iranian general killed later by the Americans.

According to the Iranian judiciary’s official news agency, Mahmoud Mousavi Majd’s death sentence was carried out today (Monday) morning over the charge of espionage so that the case of his betrayal to his country will be closed forever.

A spokesperson for the news agency said, “Majd had been found guilty of receiving large sums of money from both the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Israel’s Mossad.”

Earlier in July, the spokesperson informed that the former translator had been sentenced to death for spying on various security fields, especially the armed forces and the Quds Force and the whereabouts and movements of martyr General Qasem Soleimani.

The news agency in June reported that Majd was arrested about two years ago and was not directly involved in the attack on General Soleimani. Majd had migrated to Syria in the 1970s with his family and worked as an English and Arabic language translator at a company.

He was found to have been paid American dollars to reveal information on adviser convoys, military equipment, and communication systems, commanders and their movements, important geographical areas, codes, and passwords until he came under scrutiny and his access was downgraded, the news agency reported.

Last week, Iran said that it had executed a former defence ministry employee convicted of selling information to the US about Iran’s missile programme.

The Revolutionary Guards commander, Qasem Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike near Baghdad airport in January. The killing of Major General Qasem Soleimani brought decades-old arch-enemies Iran and the United States to the brink of conflict.