Ali Akbar Siadat had been accused of providing Israeli spy agency Mossad with
classified information on Iran's military capabilities, including details about
military maneuvers, bases, operational jet fighters, military flights, air
crashes and missiles, IRNA reported.
Separately, another Iranian was hanged Tuesday for
membership in an exile opposition movement, IRNA reported.
Over the past decade, Iran has stepped up its domestic
military production, including missiles capable of reaching Israel and beyond -
aiming, Tehran says, to defend the country from Israel and the US amid Iranian
concern they might strike its nuclear facilities.
According to IRNA, Siadat confessed to spying for Israel
starting in 2004 in return for $60,000, as well as an additional $7,000 each
time he met with Israeli handlers.
IRNA said he met up with Israeli intelligence agents
during "foreign trade" trips to Turkey, Thailand and the Netherlands
and that he transferred data through a digital camera, transmitters and laptop.
IRNA reported that Siadat was arrested in 2008 while
planning to flee Iran. There were no details on whether Siadat was a government
employee or how he obtained the classified information.
There was no immediate comment on the execution from
officials in Israel.
IRNA said Siadat was hanged in Tehran's Evin prison.
Earlier in the week, Iran's judiciary announced that a
spy for Israel would be executed soon after an appeals court confirmed the
man's death sentence. It said the trial was held in the presence of his lawyer.
Espionage is punishable by death under Iranian law. Iran
and Israel have been enemies since the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, with
Tehran periodically announcing arrests of people suspected of spying for
Israel.
In 2008, Iran executed Ali Ashtari, an electronics
salesman who was convicted of relaying information on Iran's nuclear program
and other sensitive data to Israel's Mossad spy agency.
And in 2000, a court convicted 10 Iranian Jews of spying
for Israel in a closed-door trial and sentenced them to prison terms ranging
from four to 13 years. All were released before serving out their full
sentences after international pressure.
Iran faces increased pressure from the West over its
controversial nuclear program that Israel, the United States and others contend
is intended for nuclear weapons making. Tehran denies the charge, insisting the
program is for peaceful purposes only, such as generating power.
IRNA also reported that another Iranian, identified as
Ali Sarami, was hanged on Tuesday in Evin after being convicted of membership
in an exiled opposition group, the Mujahedeen-e Khalq Organization. It said he
had been arrested several times since 1982 for membership in the group but had
continued his activities each time. He was detained in 2007 for the last time
and was sentenced to death, IRNA reported.
MEK in a statement Tuesday claimed Sarami's wife and
daughter as well as two other supporters were arrested while protesting outside
Evin prison after his execution.
It said Sarami, 63, has spent a total 24 years in prison
from various incarcerations under the shah and clerical rule. Though arrested
in 2007, his death sentence came after mass opposition protests that were held
in December 2009, the group said.
The MEK said that before his arrest, Sarami visited a son
who is staying at Camp Ashraf, an MEK base in neighboring Iraq. Iranian
authorities have arrested other people in the past in part for visiting
relatives in the camp. The London-based rights group Amnesty International
reported in August that in addition to Sarami, six others in Iranian prisons
are facing execution after being sentenced to death for MEK links.
The MEK is a bitter opponent of Iran's ruling clerics. It
was founded in the 1960s and opposed the rule of the U.S.-backed shah, but then
after his fall in the 1979 Islamic Revolution, it carried out attacks against
the cleric-led government that came to power. MEK and its affiliates were
deemed foreign terrorist organizations by the U.S. State Department in 1997.
