One More Excuse to Kill: Espionage Weaponized in Iran’s Unrelenting Assault on the Right to Life
Source:https://www.iranrights.org/library/document/5218
Summary
In 2025, Iran has carried out over 1,055 executions by late September—already surpassing past records—using the death penalty as a tool to silence dissent, punish protesters, and consolidate power. Authorities have expanded vague espionage laws to target individuals accused of collaborating with Israel or other “hostile states.” The executions of Babak Shahbazi, a father of two arrested in 2024 and coerced into false confessions, and three Kurdish men—Azad Shojaei, Edris Ali, and Rasul Ahmad Rasul—illustrate systemic violations: secret trials, torture, retroactive laws, and denial of due process. None were provided fair trials; their convictions relied on coerced or fabricated evidence, and their families were denied final visits or even the bodies for burial.
The June 23, 2025 espionage bill deepens these abuses by broadening capital punishment to peaceful dissent, journalism, and protest, equating such acts with “corruption on earth.” If ratified, it will retroactively criminalize activities and further empower Revolutionary Courts to fast-track executions.
Iran’s leaders have historically used mass killings during crises—from the 1980s political purges to today’s unrest—to suppress opposition. International responses remain weak, leaving families devastated and children orphaned. Without meaningful consequences, Iran will continue its execution frenzy, weaponizing law to instill fear and crush aspirations for freedom.
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“These children are very upset. No video, no paper, no body. We received nothing.”
- Execution victim’s brother
With 1,055 executions as of September 24, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s assault on the right to life in 2025 has already exceeded past records. For over four decades, Iran has met political crises and public unrest with waves of summary, arbitrary, and extrajudicial executions. The 2020 law passed to counteract Israel’s “hostile actions” against “peace and security” was used to executed Babak Shahbazi, father of two, on September 17 for allegedly committing espionage for Israel. Before him, on June 25, Iran had used the same law, retroactively, to secretly execute and bury three Kurdish men. In the midst of the June 12-day war with Israel, the parliament passed a new billcriminalizing independent journalism and peaceful dissent and expanding the use of the death penalty. If ratified, this bill will inevitably result in more politically motivated executions on spurious espionage charges. In the absence of a consistent and more effective international response, the death toll this year is bound to be the highest in over three decades.
I- Political Crisis and Death Penalty Surge
Since 1979, Iran’s leaders have killed tens of thousands to spread fear in society and ensure the consolidation of their power and survival. In 1979-1981, multiple protests across the country challenged the new revolutionary state’s laws and practices. The State’s response to the rising discontent was to annihilate all opposition groups. Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights (ABC)’s research indicates that from February 11, 1979 to March 20, 1982, Iran carried out at least 5,974 summary executions. In 1988, after reluctantly accepting the Resolution 598 ending the Iran Iraq War, Iran used a failed attack by the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) from its base in Iraq as a pretext for secretly hanging between 4,000 to 5,000 MKO and other political prisoners; a crime against humanity for which it faced no consequences. Emboldened Iranian leaders continued to flout international law, committing more crimes against humanity with impunity.
In recent years, rising discontent and the State’s violent response to protests have further eroded the Islamic Republic’s legitimacy at home and abroad. To ensure their grip on power, Iran’s leaders are resorting again to their hallmark practice: mass killing. Politically motivated capital punishment are even more likely following the June 13-25 conflict with Israel and the United States, during which 21,000 “suspects” were arrested according to the police spokesman. In August alone, 161 executions were reported while 174 people were executed in September as of the 24th.
A new espionage bill passed by the Parliament on June 23, 2025, expands capital punishment to activities such as disseminating content deemed harmful to national security. Though convictions on unsubstantiated espionage charges such as those leveled against Ahmadreza Djalali are not new in Iran, the number of executions implemented for committing “espionage for Israel” have risen in 2025 to 10 so far, against four in 2024, while Chief Justice Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei has ordered cases related to the 12-day war with Israel to be expedited.
Relying on vague espionage laws and a subservient and opaque judiciary, torture, and sham trials, the Islamic Republic resorts to politically-motivated prosecutions and executions in order to stamp out opposition within the country and spread fear. The case of Babak Shahbazi who had participated in protests in 2022 is emblematic.
II- Espionage for Israel: Case Studies
1- The Case of Babak Shahbazi
Babak Shahbazi, 44, whose execution on September 17 was announced by Mizan, the Judiciary’s news agency, worked as an expert in data center cooling systems. He had been arrested on January 6, 2024 after he dropped his son at school by agents of the Ministry of Intelligence. He was held for seven months in the Ministry’s safe houses, under intense interrogation before being transferred to Ward 209 of Evin Prison. Authorities threatened Shahbazi, including with the of arrest his teenage daughter, and used psychological torture to coerce him into making a confession. According to asource close to the family interviewed by ABC, Shahbazi would call his family every Monday crying to say goodbye as he was told his execution was imminent.He was only allowed a supervised visitation for the first time after seven months of detention.
Shahbazi’s case was eventually sent to court on charges of “collaboration with hostile foreign states against the Islamic Republic of Iran, espionage, intelligence and security cooperation in favor of the Zionist regime, and transmission of sensitive information,” according to the Judiciary’s statement. Shahbazi’s motives were, according to his accusers, financial gain in the form of “120 million dollars in cash or in bitcoins” and U.S. residency for his family. Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court presided by judge Abolqasem Salavati sentenced Shahbazi to death on May 4, 2024, for “corruption on earth through waging war against God.” The ruling also mentions Shahbazi’s participation in the Woman, Life, Freedom protests as evidence of his opposition to the Islamic Republic. [1]
The ruling was upheld by Branch 39 of the Supreme Court on July 1, 2024.
The court did not provide Shahbazi nor his lawyers a copy of the ruling, but his lawyers were allowed to see it and take some notes to draft an appeal, which was rejected. They also submitted a request for retrial on August 2, 2025, which was rejected on August 5, 2025 by judge Qasem Mazinani, the presiding judge of Branch 9 of the Supreme Court. In the space of four months, five rulings were reportedly issued in the case, which indicates speedy decision making that are contrary to the requirements for a thorough review in death penalty cases.
Based on ABC’s research, the main evidence in Shahbazi’s case is the confession of his former friend and colleague, Esmaeil Fekri, an IT specialist, and Shahbazi’s unsigned confessions during interrogations. The ruling also relies on uncorroborated intelligence reports. Fekri had retracted his confession implicating Shahbazi, including in statements in prison and communications to court, where he stressed that his confession was based on instructions by his interrogator who threatened him with death while also promising leniency and release in case of cooperation. There is no mention in the ruling of Shahbazi and his lawyer’s defense statements in court or the fact that Esmaeil Fekri had retracted his confessions.
Fekri had been arrested in the fall of 2023, held in solitary confinement for four months, and interrogated without access to an attorney. He was sentenced to death on May 5, 2024 by Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court after a reportedly 10-minute trial with no opportunity to present or review evidence. The verdict was confirmed by Branch 39 of the Supreme Court on September 22, 2024 and implemented on June 15, 2025. Fekri claimed that in his case, the prosecution relied on coerced confessions and the uncorroborated claims of the case officer. The only alleged evidence presented, he claimed, was the discovery of cryptocurrency said to have been sent by the Mossad. However, Fekri insisted that he independently mined a substantial amount of Bitcoin at the early stages of the cryptocurrency market long before the indictment-alleged timeline. The court had reportedly ignored expert witness statements and documentation provided to support his claim.[2]
Shahbazi’s case relies on false and contradictory information. Shahbazi had admitted to one Skype conversation with a person claiming to be an Israeli official covering Iran. The contact was initiated by an individual named Esmaeil Fekri who Shahbazi had met in a chatroom and befriended, and then parted ways at least for over a year before their arrest. Following this contact, in which he was asked to provide biographic information including on his professional activities, Shahbazi ultimately decided against further contact or cooperation.
The court conviction relies on intelligence reports that are not supported with any evidence of actual cooperation or exchange of information. No surveillance records, communications, or other corroborating evidence of espionage were presented. Furthermore, according to available information, the indictment, relying on evidence drawn from Instagram, alleges that Babak Shahbazi sent a message to Israel expressing his willingness to join the army. In fact, Shahbazi had sent such a message in March 2022 to the official page of the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky volunteering to join the Ukrainian army.[3]
In a last handwritten letter, published after his death on Instagram, Babak Shahbazi rejects the charges against him, pointing out that he did not confess to espionage during interrogations nor attempted to flee the country after Fekri’s arrest, which he would have had he been guilty. He also rejects the accusations of having received large amounts of money from Israel, stressing that the origin of every cent in his bank accounts was clear and legitimate.[4]
Shahbazi’s 12- and 18-year-old children are not the only ones who will have to struggle to make sense of the injustice and brutality that has deprived them of the love and protection of their father. The execution of three innocent Kurdish men, Edris Ali, Azad Shojaei, and Ahmad Rasul Ahmad for espionage on June 25, has also left their families, including eight children, in shock and vulnerable.
2- The Case of Azad Shojaei, Edris Ali, and Rasul Ahmad Rasul
On June 25, Mizan, Iran’s judiciary’s news outlet, announced that three “spies,” Edris Ali, Azad Shojaei, and Rasul Ahmad Rasul, an Iraqi citizen, were executed by hanging in Orumieh on charge of “moharebeh [war against God] and efsad fel-arz [corruption on earth] through cooperation with hostile foreign governments in favor of the Zionist regime.” The report specifies that the men, “by establishing contact with one of the main operatives of the Mossad intelligence service in a neighboring country [under the cover of a shipment of alcoholic beverages] brought equipment into the country for the purpose of assassinating certain figures.”
Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was assassinated in his car on November 27, 2020[5]. In December 2020, Iranian authorities claimed that all individuals involved in the assassination had been identified and their backgrounds investigated.[6] Over two years later, Edris Ali, Azad Shojaei, and Rasul Ahmad Rasul were arrested in Sardasht for their involvement in smuggling alcoholic beverages from Iraq into Iran and espionage. They were tried on September 22, 2024 and, on October 10, 2024, sentenced to death by Branch 2 of the Orumieh Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Qorban Shahini with Judge Esmail Bazr Kari as associate judge.[7]The defendants appealed the sentence to Branch 9 of the Supreme Court. Their execution took place, secretly, four days after the Supreme Court’s June 21, 2025 ruling, which had not been transmitted to their lawyers.[8]
Ali, Shojaei, and Ahmad Rasul were business acquaintances. Ahmad Rasul was a wholesaler of alcoholic beverages in Northern Iraq and the two other men transported and distributed alcohol independently. Edris Ali sometimes carried the shipments himself.
Azad Shojaei
Azad Shojaei was born in Duleh-ye Garm village in Sardasht (Western Azerbaijan) on July 27, 1979. He was arrested for alcohol smuggling and sentenced in September 2020, to a fine amounting to three times the value of the alcohol he had smuggled. He was also sentenced to six months in prison, which the judge suspended for 15 months in consideration of the harm that his imprisonment would cause to his family. By the time Shojaei was arrested again in 2023, his case had been closed for over a year, during which he had not been involved in smuggling alcoholic beverages into Iran. [9]
Since his conviction, Shojaei had been summoned regularly by the Sardasht Intelligence Office for questioning regarding his activities and contacts. On June 24, 2023, he was summoned again by phone and asked to go to the Intelligence Office after working hours for questioning. The person accompanying Shojaei reported that agents started beating him upon arrival. Shojaei was kept in Sardasht for one night and transferred to Orumieh where he was kept in solitary confinement for six months and interrogated, reportedly by the Sardasht interrogator, without access to an attorney. According to an informed source and Orumieh Prison ward mates, signs of torture were visible on Shojaei’s body. Shojaei himself had reported that he was tortured and having been tied to a bed and whipped on the soles of his feet. He also reported that to coerce his confession, interrogators had sat him on a chair and given him electric shocks until he passed out.Shojaei’s front teeth were broken, one of his legs was black and bruised, and one of his testicles was ruptured. [10]
After Shojaei’s arrest, authorities’ search of his house uncovered a notebook describing in detail transactions of alcoholic beverages, predating his 2020 conviction. No recent transactions were recorded. Regardless, he was charged again for smuggling alcoholic beverages into Iran. [11]
Edris Ali
Edris Ali, born in Duleh-ye Garm village in Sardasht, was arrested a few days after Shojaei in June 2023. Unlike Shojaei, Ali was reportedly not kept in solitary confinement for long. During the first six months, he was allowed to see his wife, his brother, and his children once a month and permitted to call them occasionally.[12] According to an informed source interviewed by ABC, Ali had reported to a ward mate that he had been beaten and slapped for the first few days of his arrest. Ali had also stated that he was very confused during that time as he was under the influence of drugs he was given and unable to distinguish day from night. He had told his ward mates that:
“They gave me a drug and then kept asking me questions, and I would answer. I didn’t know what I was saying. I wasn’t aware. (I) even told Khanzadeh, the head of Orumieh Central Prison, and Nasser Atabati, the Chief Justice of West Azerbaijan Province, that I had confessed under the influence of drugs.”[13]
Ali had reportedly been subjected to intense psychological pressure during his detention. According to eye witnesses, the behavior of Ali in prison was unusual. He fasted continuously for eight months and prayed. He talked to himself and his mental state had completely deteriorated. Ali acted strangely and would often get into fights.[14]
Rasul Ahmad Rasul
Rasul Ahmad Rasul was born on January 1, 1982 in Pishdar, Suleiymaniyeh, in Iraqi Kurdistan. He was a wholesaler of alcoholic beverages, which is legal in Iraq, for years and also sold alcohol to people who smuggled it into Iran. In January 2021, Ahmad Rasul was imprisoned in Iraq, where he was held for over nine months and 17 days without leave. He faced financial difficulty. After his release, while he was waiting for his appeal in Iraq, Ahmad Rasul went to Iran where he had friends and relatives and tried to collect the debts his clients owed to him.
On July 6, 2023, about 45 days after his arrival, and less than a couple of weeks after the arrest of Shojaei and Ali, Ahmad Rasul was summoned to the Intelligence Office of Sardasht by phone. He told his interlocutor that he had house guests, as his wife and mother-in-law were visiting from Iraq, and will come once they leave, which the intelligence agent accepted. His brother Qader Ahmad Rasul told ABC that two days later, confident that he had done nothing wrong, Rasul went to the Intelligence Office where they detained and transferred him to Orumieh and held largely incommunicado for six months.
For over six months, Ahmad Rasul’s family was not informed of his whereabouts. He was allowed only two supervised calls during this entire period. The authorities denied Ahmad Rasul’s father, who had traveled to Iran twice during this period, the authorization to visit his son. [15]
According to Qader Ahmad Rasul (and an informed source interviewed by ABC), his brother had been severely tortured in solitary confinement:
“The torture was beyond measure. He was no longer a whole person. When he opened the camera (he had a mobile in prison) we could see he was very broken. Especially during the first 6 months, he had been under torture constantly… All the marks of torture were visible. The scars were left… Later, when he was transferred to the ward, his condition became a little better. He said everything he said and all confession he gave was under all kinds of torture.”
ABC’s research indicates that during the indictment proceedings, charges brought against Ahmad Rasul were unauthorized border crossing, unlawful residence in Iran, smuggling of alcoholic beverages, and use of the identification papers of a deceased individual. But he was not notified of the charge of espionage. Further, the judicial order issued against him was for release on bail, not pre-trial detention expected in an espionage case. Espionage and “acting against national security” were never properly explained to the accused, nor was evidence presented to him. The security officers’ reports framed the case primarily as “acting against national security” rather than espionage.[16] According to his brother, Ahmad Rasul had crossed the border legally and his passport had been stamped. The quantity of smuggled alcoholic beverages he and others were charged with was the equivalent of his total sales to Iranian clients over eight or nine years.[17]
The families of Azad Shojaei, Edris Ali, and Rasul Ahmad Rasul only learned about their executions from the news. Furthermore, the authorities have not returned the bodies of their loved ones and continue to refuse to inform them of their burial location.[18] Qader Ahmad Rasul told ABC that the authorities have also refused to provide them with his brother’s death certificate.[19]
The three children of Azad Shojaei, aged 9, 11, and 13, who did not have the means to travel to visit their father in prison, the two children of Edris Ali aged 8 and 10 years old, whose livelihood depended on their father's earnings from transporting goods across the border, and the three children of Rasul Ahmad Rasul, aged 6, 9, and 18, will not only have to come to terms with the loss of brutal death of their fathers, but they will have to wrestle with poverty. Iran is denying these families the chance to have any closure by refusing to return the men’s bodies to be buried and mourned by their loved ones. In the case of Ahmad Rasul Ahmad, the authorities have also refused to provide the family a death certificate.
Unlawful Justice Process
Azad Shojaei, Edris Ali, and Rasul Ahmad Rasul’s due process rights were violated throughout the judicial process. From the very beginning, their arrests were unlawful. Two of them were summoned by telephone and outside working hours. In the case of Shojaei at least, the arrest took place before a judicial warrant was issued indicating the lack of pre-existing evidence. In all three cases, the court relied on defendants’ coerced confessions and uncorroborated intelligence reports.
The three men were arrested by the Intelligence Office in Sardasht, where the alleged crimes were committed, yet they were transferred to and prosecuted in Orumieh in Western Azerbaijan, where two of them were detained incommunicado for months. Based on available information, the Prosecutor’s Office investigated the case and notified the detainees of their charges, which did not include espionage but included acts against national security. The investigative judge reportedly excluded the espionage charge due to the lack of clarity around the type of alleged espionage, the confidential information involved, and how it was shared and the lack of convincing responses from the Intelligence Office.
For unclear reasons, Sardasht’s prosecution declared itself incompetent to prosecute the case, which was transferred to Orumieh in September 2023. During this time, the detainees remained in solitary confinement without access to legal counsel and tortured, according to their own statements, eyewitnesses, and other informed sources. Five other men who were tried in this case were accused of smuggling alcoholic beverages. Rasul Ahmad Rasul was also charged with illegal residence and using a deceased person’s identity documents.
The right to counsel was never verbally communicated to the defendants and the entire investigation was conducted without a lawyer. No court-appointed lawyer (mandatory in Iranian law in capital cases like espionage) was assigned. Interrogations were prolonged, at times conducted at night, with no record of start/end times as required by law. The accused were not informed about the espionage charge in the initial phase of the interrogations. No record of lawful interrogation conditions (times, durations, or defendant’s approval) was kept.
Shojaei and Ali reported that confessions were extracted under severe torture and psychological pressure and the content was dictated by interrogators. However, neither Shojaei nor Ahmad Rasul have admitted to anything other than the trade of alcoholic beverages during interrogations. Rather than the defendants’ handwriting, multiple handwritings reportedly appeared on the case file and some pages were torn. The indictment was never served to the accused, depriving them the chance to prepare a proper defense against the espionage charge before the trial. [20]
The three men’s conviction rests mainly on confessions and intelligence reports about their relations with an alleged Mossad operative in Iraq and unsubstantiated suspicions. The most concrete accusation against them is their supposed involvement in transporting a large shipment from Iraq to Tehran. The intelligence report states that the shipment “may” have contained material used to assassinate Fakhrizadeh. The men had admitted to the existence of a shipment of expensive alcoholic beverages, which they were asked to take to the town of Baneh, but denied any involvement in espionage for Israel.[21]
The lower court’s reliance on allegations of Mossad affiliation was unsupported by documentary or testimonial evidence and the accused were denied the opportunity to respond to the espionage allegation in a timely and procedurally correct manner.
The Orumieh Revolutionary Court ruling is based on Article 6 of the 2020 Law for Counteracting Hostile Actions of the Zionist Regime Against Peace and Security states. Based on this article, “Any form of intelligence cooperation or espionage on behalf of the Zionist regime is considered as moharebeh (war against God) and esfad fel-arz (spreading corruption on earth)”, both of which carry the death penalty. However, establishing espionage requires possession of sensitive and classified information, which these three men did not have access to. Their conviction rested on speculation and association rather than substantiated facts. Further, the alleged acts of the defendants were committed before the enactment of this law.
The intelligence report alleged that more than two years before the nuclear scientist’s assassination, Rasul Ahmad Rasul requested Azad Shojaei to facilitate the dispatch of two trustworthy cross border porters (Akam Farkhehpour and Edris Ali) to Sulaymaniyah in Iraqi Kurdistan. The latter allegedly met people in Sulaymaniyeh who hired them to bring to the town of Baneh in Iran a shipment of valuable alcoholic beverages. ABC’s research found no convincing evidence to support the prosecution’s central argument that the defendants knowingly cooperated with a hostile intelligence service by transporting a shipment into Iran which was later used in the assassination of nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.
Further, there is no clear link between the defendants and any collection or transmission of classified military, political, or economic information to Israel (see legal analysis of espionage laws in Section III). The three men were accused of collaboration with an alleged Mossad operative in Iraq to whom the shipment belonged, but no evidence is provided to substantiate the said individuals’ espionage activities. The judgment merely refers to the actions of the Israeli government and its agents; actions that have no connection to these three men.
The court provided no evidence of the defendants’ intent to cooperate with that government nor did the prosecution provide information on the content of the shipment that may have been used in the 2020 assassination of the nuclear scientist. Ahmad Rasul and Shojaei had denied any knowledge of a shipment other than alcoholic beverages or the shipment’s destination beyond Baneh. The intelligence report in the case file reportedly alleges that defendants were involved in the shipment “without breaking the seal and without knowing its contents.” This acknowledgment negates criminal intent. The report stated that the shipment was “probably” weapons used for the assassination and alleges that the package was transported to Tehran by other named individuals. Yet those individuals were all acquitted, while defendants with no knowledge of the content of the shipment were convicted.[22]
The death penalty was imposed in this case despite the absence of criminal intent and regardless of the fact that the alleged acts occurred before the enactment of the 2020 espionage law. The ruling violates Article 15 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Iran ratified in 1975, and Article 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), both of which strictly prohibits retroactive criminal punishment. The retroactive application of a capital statute also contravenes Article 6 of the ICCPR, which permits the death penalty only for the most serious crimes and in accordance with the law in effect at the time of the offence. Such practices amount to arbitrary deprivation of life and highlight the systematic disregard of Iran’s judiciary for fundamental international norms.
The hasty and secret execution of these three Kurdish men took place three days after the ruling during the 12-day war with Israel. Defendants were denied their right to seek pardon. Iranian authorities also violated the defendants’ rights in the implementation of their death sentences. The Supreme Court’s ruling was never served to Edris Ali, Azad Shojaei, and Ahmad Rasul’s lawyers and their families. According to his brother, Ahmad Rasul believed that he was going to be released. He had even given his clothes to his cellmates.[23]
They and their families, who only heard about the executions in the news, were denied their right to a final visitation. Furthermore, the authorities have not returned the bodies of their loved ones and continue to refuse to inform them of their burial location, denying them the right to know the fate of their loved ones, recover remains, and perform burial according to their traditions.[24]
III- Espionage and Cooperation with Hostile States in Iranian Law: Legal Framework and Human Rights Concerns
The espionage bill approved by the parliament in June 2025, expands the use of the death penalty to cover a broad range of national security offenses. Importantly, the bill defines collaboration with “hostile states,” including the United States and Israel, as “corruption on earth”—an offense vaguely defined that carries the death penalty. ABC is concerned that such broad and imprecise provisions will be weaponized to convict individuals engaged in peaceful activities on spurious national security charges. The case studies in this report already demonstrate how existing espionage laws are used in this way, raising grave concerns about the impact of further expanding the scope of the death penalty.
Currently, Iran criminalizes espionage and cooperation with hostile states under three overlapping legal frameworks. The laws’ broad undefined terms enable the criminalization of dissent, independent journalism, and peaceful political activity. As in the current convictions, it provides for disproportionate punishments for non-violent offenses.
The Islamic Penal Code (1996, Tazirat Section) governs civilian conduct. It provides for 1–10 years' imprisonment for knowingly sharing classified political or military information with unauthorized parties (Art. 501) collecting or attempting to disseminate classified material to undermine national security (Art. 505) and collaborating with hostile states (Art. 508). The punishment for “concealing or facilitating espionage” is six months to 3 years (Art. 510).
The Armed Forces Penal Code (2003) imposes severe penalties on military personnel including execution for passing military or national security information to enemies or foreign powers (Art. 24). It provides for up to 15 years' imprisonment for collecting sensitive information, even if not transmitted. Penalties vary by the classification level of disclosed material, including imprisonment for breaching confidentiality (Art. 26).
The 2020 Law on Countering Hostile Actions of the Zionist Regime applies to any collaboration with Israeli-affiliated entities. Espionage for Israel is classified as moharebeh (waging war against God) and esfad fel-arz(corruption on earth), both punishable by death. Political, economic, media, or cultural engagement with Israel is criminalized and leads to imprisonment and dismissal from public service:
“Any form of intelligence cooperation or espionage in favor of the Zionist regime shall be considered as moharebeh (waging war against God) and fasad-fil-ard (corruption on earth), and the perpetrator shall be sentenced to the most severe punishment.” (Art. 6)
“Any form of cooperation, interaction, political agreement, or exchange of information with official or unofficial entities affiliated with the Zionist regime is prohibited. The offender shall be sentenced to Level 4 taʿzir imprisonment [5 to 10 years] and permanent dismissal from public service.” (Art. 7)
“Any action—whether security, military, political, cultural, media, propaganda-related, or direct or indirect economic and financial assistance—knowingly aimed at endorsing, strengthening, or consolidating the Zionist regime is prohibited. The offender shall be sentenced to Level 5 taʿzir imprisonment [2 to 5 years].” (Art. 8)
The New Bill (2025): “Intensification of Punishment for Espionage and Cooperation with the Zionist Regime and Hostile States Against National Security and Interests,” approved by the parliament on June 23, 2025, expands these provisions and criminalizes dissent, independent journalism and peaceful political activities, including protests, and intensifies penalties. The bill’s use of broad, undefined terms such as “harm to national interests” and “spreading fear,” and “affiliates”, among others, allows judges to impose harsh penalties, including death, confiscation of property, and dismissal from jobs for activities that do not involve espionage. Articles 7–9 of the bill establish exceptional judicial procedures and retroactive applicability:
"Any intelligence activity or espionage on behalf of the Zionist regime or hostile states, including the United States, or any other hostile regimes and groups, or their affiliates, that harms national security or national interests, is considered ‘esfad fel-arz’ and is punishable under Article 286 of the Islamic Penal Code, enacted on May 1, 2013." (Art.1).
“Perpetrators of any security, military, economic, financial, technological action, or any form of direct or indirect assistance, carried out knowingly and with awareness, with the purpose of endorsing, strengthening, consolidating, or legitimizing the Zionist regime, shall be convicted of corruption on earth (esfad fel-arz) and shall be subject to the punishment prescribed in the main clause of Article 286 of the Islamic Penal Code.” (Art.2)
"Any action or cooperation in political, cultural, media, or propaganda activities, spreading fake news, or any content that could cause public fear, division, or harm national security, if not punishable under ‘esfad fel-arz’, will be subject to imprisonment and permanent dismissal from public service. Furthermore, sending videos or images to hostile or foreign networks, where their publication would typically result in the weakening of public morale, incitement of division, or harm to national security, shall be punishable by Level 5 ta'zir imprisonment [2 to 5 years]. Participation in illegal marches or gatherings during wartime shall be punishable by Level 4 ta'zir imprisonment [5 to 10 years]. " (Art.4) [25]
“If the taʿzir offenses covered by this law are committed during wartime or under security or military conditions, as determined by the Supreme National Security Council, the offender’s punishment shall be increased by up to three degrees. The penalties prescribed under this law shall apply to the offender in the circumstances specified in this article, regardless of the nature of the country, regime, or group benefiting from the act, whether hostile or non-hostile.” (Art. 6)
“Offenses covered by this law shall be adjudicated out of turn and on a priority basis at special branches of the Revolutionary Court designated by the Head of the Judiciary.” (Art. 7)
The provisions of the initial authorization (istejaza) granted to the Head of the Judiciary by the Supreme Leader, dated July 24, 2018, concerning the prosecution of economic crimes, shall also apply to the offenses covered by this law from the date of its enactment.” (Art. 8)
This law shall enter into force upon its adoption. The penalties prescribed herein shall also apply to offenses that were initiated or for which preparatory acts occurred prior to the law’s enactment, provided that the offenders or their accomplices fail to present themselves and their associates to the competent authorities within three days of the law’s adoption.” (Art. 9)
If ratified, the June 23 bill gives the Iranian authorities sweeping and arbitrary power to silence dissent by equating a wide range of peaceful activities with “corruption on earth” (esfad fel-arz), a capital offense under Article 286 of the Islamic Penal Code. The definitions of prohibited conduct — such as “harming national security,” “endorsing or legitimizing the Zionist regime,” or engaging in “political, cultural, media, or propaganda activities” — are so vague and broad that they can encompass virtually any form of criticism, independent journalism, or human rights work.
The extension of punishments to cover cultural, media and propaganda acts extends the reach of the law in silencing dissent, while providing additional legal instruments to execute individuals that rely on broad definitions to secure convictions. In a system that routinely relies on confessions extracted under torture and unsubstantiated evidence to secure convictions, it presents an increasing danger.
By criminalizing such activities with the death penalty, the law violates the principle of legality and legal certainty (ICCPR Art. 15), as well as the right to life (Art. 6), which restricts the death penalty to the “most serious crimes” involving intentional killing. The bill also directly undermines freedoms of expression, association, and assembly (ICCPR Art. 19, 21, 22) by punishing individuals for sharing videos or images with foreign media, participating in protests, or disseminating information that could allegedly “weaken public morale.”
In addition, it empowers the authorities to increase punishments in vaguely defined “wartime or security conditions,” determined not by courts but by the Supreme National Security Council, thereby granting the executive unchecked authority over sentencing (Art.14). This Council is chaired by the President and brings together the country’s top civilian and military officials. Its permanent members include the Speaker of Parliament, the head of the Judiciary, the Chief of the Armed Forces General Staff, and the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, alongside the ministers of Foreign Affairs, Defense, Interior, and Intelligence. The Supreme Leader’s representatives are also permanent members.[26]
Trials under this law are fast-tracked in special Revolutionary Court branches appointed by the Head of the Judiciary, denying defendants fair trial guarantees and the right to an independent and impartial tribunal (Art. 14).
Perhaps most troubling, the bill applies retroactively to acts committed before its adoption, unless the accused surrender within three days. This provision strips away the fundamental protection against retroactive punishment (Art. 15) and gives the government unlimited scope to prosecute past behavior as it sees fit. By removing safeguards, concentrating power in security bodies, and authorizing severe penalties up to death for ill-defined conduct, this law gives the government a free hand to suppress dissent, silence independent voices, and instill fear in society in blatant violation of Iran’s international human rights obligations.
The new bill has faced scrutiny from the Guardian Council, whose role is to ensure that legislation complies with Islamic law and the constitution. In mid-September, the Guardian Council sent back the bill to the parliament for revision, stating vaguely its incompatibility with the Article 110 (2) of the constitution and the need to preserve the "atmosphere of unity and cohesion,” key to Iran’s “victory in the 12-day war.”[27] Clause 2 of Article 110 describes the responsibilities of the Supreme Leader in “Supervising the proper execution of the general policies of the State.” It is difficult to determine what changes in the bill will satisfy the Guardian Council.
IV- Prioritize Accountability, Speak Truth to Iran’s Leaders
Iran’s relentless use of the death penalty is a flagrant violation of its international human rights obligations, including under Articles 6 and 14 of the ICCPR, and has reached record levels not seen in three decades. The unlawful killing of Babak Shahbazi, Azad Shojaei, Edris Ali, and Rasul Ahmad Rasul not only denied them their most basic rights but also left behind devastated parents, spouses, and ten young children, nine of them under the age of fifteen. The other 1,051 lives cut short in Iran’s execution frenzy this year also left behind countless collateral victims. The law adopted on June 23, if implemented, will undoubtedly place many more lives at grave risk. For Iran’s rulers, Israel’s attack has served primarily as an excuse to further terrorize the population, suppress years of growing discontent, distract the international community, and drain the limited resources of UN human rights mechanisms.
The humiliating 12-day war, like any military setback in an authoritarian state, emboldened the Islamic Republic’s opponents. In its aftermath, thousands were arrested and the number of individuals executed for alleged espionage for Israel sharply increased. Out of 10 such executions in 2025, a dramatic rise from 4 in 2024, 8 have taken place after June 13. Yet those executed had been arrested and convicted before that date.
The executions of Edris Ali, Azad Shojaei, Rasul Ahmad Rasul, and Babak Shahbazi illustrate a broader pattern of politically motivated killings, of which the 2025 bill “Enhancing the Punishment for Espionage and Cooperation with the Zionist Regime and Hostile States” is symptomatic. The 2020 “Law on Countering Hostile Actions of the Zionist Regime against Peace and Security,” under which they were convicted, was itself approved after the nationwide November 2019 protests. While the scale of executions in 2025 is exceptionally high, the trend has been rising for years: ABC documented at least 317 executions in 2021, 579 in 2022, 811 in 2023, and 942 in 2024. The number of public executions has also risen noticeably from zero in 2021 to 2 in 2022, 7 in 2023, 4 in 2024 and 7 so far in 2025.
International condemnations of the high number of executions continue to fall on deaf ears, as Iran’s leaders operate with de-facto impunity, confident that there will be no significant political or economic consequences.
Meanwhile, their representatives polish their international image while trying to undermine accountability mechanisms such as the independent Fact-Finding Mission on Iran: they hold bilateral human rights dialogues and meetings, engage with under-resourced UN human rights mechanisms, and draft multiple reports (devoid of any relevant data.) They host side events, bring along friendly NGOs to make statements unrelated to the human rights violations by the Iranian government. They even organize exhibits at the UN headquarters in Geneva as they did in September 2025.
Iran checks most of the boxes for a cooperative member state, except the most essential: transparency and implementation of international recommendations, foremost the call to halt mass killings.
During the 59th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the Islamic Republic dismissed all 49 recommendations concerning the death penalty made during the Universal Periodic Review.[28] Worse still, civil society members pressing for accountability are faced with the additional challenge of appealing to a state of weakened institutions and tools that were created to prevent atrocities: with the UN’s human rights pillar receiving only 1% of the organization’s total budget and that amount shrinking further,[29] mechanisms like the Fact-Finding Mission on Iran are reportedly operating at half, or even a third, of their needed capacity. The resulting scarcity of resources sends a dangerous message to Iran and other abusers that addressing mass killings and crimes against humanity is at the bottom on the world leaders’ agenda; and that the world will stand by idly as the will of Iranians to achieve freedom is snuffed out through repression and executions.
Iran’s laws severely limit the right to organize political parties and groups and the right participate in public affairs, with most citizens excluded from the opportunity to stand for elections for the parliament or presidency.[30] Political and civic space in Iran has shrunk to nothing, and outside Iran, civil society activists and dissidents face transnational repression. This cycle of political impasse, unrest, and violent crackdowns repeats with tragic regularity. In such a context, the role of the international community is more crucial than ever. Speaking truth to Iran’s leaders, prioritizing accountability, and pressing for a rights-based path forward must be central to international engagement. The Iranian people, millions of whom aspire to more than a closed and brutal theocracy, have tried every option within their reach. Their leaders have not.
In its November 3, 2023 “Concluding observations on the fourth periodic report of the Islamic Republic of Iran,”[31] the Human Rights Committee had expressed concerns about Iran’s denial of the right to participate in public affairs to minorities, women, and political dissidents and made recommendations asking Iran to:
“to bring its electoral regulations and practices into compliance with the Covenant, including article 25, and the Committee’s general comment No. 25 (1996) on the right to participate in public affairs, voting rights and the right of equal access to public service.”
“ensure Transparent and free elections and promote genuine political pluralism and debate; as well as the freedom to engage in political activity individually or through political parties and other organizations; (b) That no person eligible for election is excluded by unreasonable or discriminatory requirements; and (c) A free press and other media that is able to comment freely on public issues without censorship or restraint and inform public opinion.
The international community should rely on these recommendations and press Iran for genuine political opening so that all Iranians, including dissidents, could organize, run for office and have a say in their own destinies. Real change will not occur without genuine political competition, allowing those opposed to the tenets of the Islamic Republic to participate in the country’s public life. The international community can break a 45-year taboo and call on the Islamic Republic’s leaders to eliminate all discrimination including those based on gender and political and religious beliefs.
Iran’s must stop this execution frenzy, and it will only do so it faces meaningful consequences. The international community should:
Censure and penalize Iranian leaders in bilateral and multilateral fora while mass executions continue and no moratorium on the death penalty is in place.
Support the families of Azad Shojaei, Edris Ali, and Rasul Ahmad Rasul who, three months after their secret executions, have not received their loved ones’ bodies.
If their deaths could not be prevented, the international community must at least acknowledge the massive injustice inflicted on their families, heed their pleas, and press Iran to allow dignified burials so that their grieving can begin:
“Will you help us? Make a request, put pressure in the name of our family so at least they give us our brother’s body. It is very difficult for us psychologically especially his wife, his children, our parents, we are all very sad. We just want a grave.” - Qader Ahmad Rasul, 2 September 2025.
