Overview
- Erfan Shakourzadeh, 29, was hanged at Ghezel Hesar prison early Monday after a sudden transfer from Tehran’s Evin facility, according to rights groups and the judiciary outlet Mizan.
- The judiciary said he worked on satellite projects and passed classified data to the CIA and Israel’s Mossad, with his televised confessions slated for broadcast Monday night.
- Iran Human Rights and Hengaw said the top-ranked aerospace master’s student spent months in solitary confinement, endured torture, and left a note calling the charges fabricated.
- Shakourzadeh was arrested in February 2025 and executed after his conviction was upheld, in what rights groups describe as a fast-tracked wartime process that has produced five espionage hangings since late February.
- Monitors counted at least 1,639 executions in 2025 and about 190 so far in 2026, which they say reflects a broader rise used to instill fear and limit scrutiny of security cases.