Three sentenced to death in Iran over killing of top nuclear scientist

Three suspects are accused of involvement in the murder of scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh and spying for Israel.

Iran’s judiciary says three people have been sentenced to death after a court found them guilty of spying for Israel and involvement in the killing of a top nuclear scientist.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed when his car was ambushed on a highway outside the capital in November 2020.

“The preliminary legal proceedings took place in Urmia, where these individuals were sentenced to execution; the case is currently in the appeals process,” Asghar Jahangir, spokesman of the Iranian judiciary, told a news conference in Tehran on Tuesday.

“After some investigations, three people out of eight arrested in West Azarbaijan province, were accused of committing espionage for the occupying regime of Israel,” Jahangir said.

He added that the three are also “accused of transporting equipment into Iran for the assassination of martyr Fakhrizadeh under the guise of smuggling alcoholic beverages”.

The decision came following a “comprehensive investigation”, the Iranian official said, adding that charges against four other suspects are under review.

Fakhrizadeh was widely seen by Western intelligence as the mastermind of clandestine Iranian efforts in the early 2000s to develop nuclear weapons behind the facade of a declared civilian uranium enrichment programme – a claim rejected by Iran.

Iranian officials say the killing took place when a weapon using an advanced camera and controlled by a satellite zoomed in on the scientist while he was driving outside the Iranian capital. Tehran blamed the assassination on Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.

The coffin of slain top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh lies in front of a large display depicting Fakhrizadeh next to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during the funeral ceremony in Tehran [Iranian Defence Ministry/AFP]

Tensions between Iran and Israel have soared since the war in Gaza started in October last year. The Islamic Republic has been supporting a network of allies across the region, including Hamas and Hezbollah, that are in confrontation with Israel in Gaza and Lebanon, respectively.

The regional rivals have also engaged in direct confrontations, with Iran launching a barrage of telegraphed missiles and drones towards Israel in April in response to an air strike widely attributed to Israel that killed senior Iranian officials in Damascus, Syria.

In October, Iran launched 180 ballistic missiles at targets in Israel in what it says was a response to the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and the killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. Israel responded with three waves of attacks aimed at military targets in three Iranian provinces.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies