Iran executes young aerospace engineer over CIA and Mossad espionage allegations

By Euronews Persian Published on 11/05/2026 - 10:07 GMT+2 Iran executed a 29-year-old aerospace engineer on espionage charges on Monday, days after human rights organisations warned of his imminent execution and published a note he had written from prison in which he said his confession had been extracted under torture. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Erfan Shakourzadeh, born in 1996, studied electrical engineering at the University of Tabriz before graduating first in his class in the master's programme in Aerospace Engineering and Satellite Technology at Iran University of Science and Technology. He had been regarded as one of the country's leading young talents in the aerospace field and was working at a scientific organisation specialising in satellites when IRGC intelligence detained him in February 2025. Mizan News Agency, affiliated with Iran's judiciary, described Shakourzadeh as "a joint CIA and Mossad spy," saying he had been recruited "as a project and due to his expertise." The judiciary said he had attempted to contact Mossad and the CIA "in three stages" and had passed classified information to foreign intelligence services. No details of the evidence against Shakourzadeh or the legal proceedings were made public before his execution. In a note smuggled out of prison, Shakourzadeh denied the charges and said he had confessed under duress. "I am Erfan Shakourzadeh, 29, one of the few so-called elites who refused to emigrate," he wrote. "A few months before the 12-day conflict, I was detained by the IRGC intelligence on trumped-up charges of espionage and collaboration with enemy countries (at war with Iran), and I was forced to make a confession during eight and a half months of torture and solitary confinement." Human rights organisations reported he was transferred on Friday to Qezel Hesar prison in the central Iranian city of Karaj ahead of his execution. He had previously been held at the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran following his arrest. His execution brings to nearly 30 the number of people hanged by Iran in recent weeks on charges related to alleged political activity, security offences and the January protests. Tehran has long been accused of persecution and summary execution of dissidents and perceived opponents of the regime, often relying on little to no evidence of wrongdoing or reported confessions made under duress.