Iranians Sentenced To Death For Espionage Moved To Solitary Confinement

Iranian detainees who are to be executed are usually transferred to solitary confinement hours before being hanged. (file photo)
Iranian detainees who are to be executed are usually transferred to solitary confinement hours before being hanged. (file photo)

Five Iranians facing death sentences on charges of espionage, were reportedly transferred to solitary confinement cells in Urmia Prison on Thursday.

The prisoners are identified as Mansour Rasouli, Aran Omri, Rahman Parhazou, Vafa Hanareh, and Nasim Namazi.

Rasouli was shown being interrogated by Mossad agents within Iran's borders in a video released in May last year. The relocation of the individuals to solitary confinement occurred shortly after the reported killing of Razi Mousavi, a senior Revolutionary Guards commander, in an attack attributed to Israel in the Zainabiyya neighborhood of Damascus, Syria.

According to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), except Rasouli, the other the detainees were arrested in November 2021, along with htree other individuals by security forces and subjected to interrogation on espionage charges. In March of the same year, they were transferred to the political ward of Urmia Prison.

As per the HRANA report, the detainees were subsequently sentenced to death by the Urmia Revolutionary Court for their alleged "participation in intelligence cooperation and espionage for the benefit of Israel."

The development follows the December 2022 announcement by the Judiciary of the Islamic Republic regarding the execution of four other detainees on charges of intelligence cooperation with Israel and kidnapping.

Some observers interpret the initiation of the execution process for the five individuals as a potential retaliation by the Islamic Republic for the killing of Razi Mousavi. Mousavi played a crucial role in logistics and support for the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards, being one of the six senior commanders instrumental in the survival of Bashar al-Assad's regime and the consolidation of Hezbollah in Lebanon.