On the morning of September 17, 2025, Iran executed Babak Shahbazi, a 44-year-old contractor and father of two, on charges of espionage for Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency. The case, which has drawn international scrutiny and condemnation from human rights groups, is emblematic of the escalating crackdown in Iran following its brief but intense conflict with Israel earlier this year.
Iranian state media, including the judiciary’s Mizan news agency, reported that Shahbazi was hanged at Qezelhesar Prison after a final conviction for passing sensitive information about Iranian data centers and security installations to Mossad. According to official accounts cited by Fars News and i24NEWS, Shahbazi worked as a contractor specializing in industrial refrigeration and cooling devices for companies tied to Iran’s telecommunications, military, and security sectors. Authorities alleged he exploited this role to access and transmit detailed intelligence, including the locations of key projects, the nature of activities at each site, and even entry and exit routes.
Iranian officials further linked Shahbazi to Esmaeil Fekri, another contractor executed on June 17, 2025, for similar espionage charges. Reports from Shafaq News and Newsweek indicate that the two men collaborated to gather and relay information to Mossad, with Shahbazi’s “intellectual expertise in the field of computer networks” cited as a particular asset by the Iranian Student News Network (SNN). State media also claimed that Shahbazi transferred information about critical infrastructure and personnel profiles in exchange for money and the promise of residence abroad.
Yet, the official narrative is fiercely contested by Shahbazi’s family, lawyers, and a chorus of activists. Groups such as Iran Human Rights and Amnesty International have denounced the trial as fundamentally unfair, marred by allegations of torture, prolonged solitary confinement, and threats to Shahbazi’s family to coerce confessions. According to Amnesty International, Iranian authorities denied Shahbazi access to legal counsel for months after his December 2023 arrest—he was reportedly detained while taking his child to school. His family and legal team were not informed of the execution date, learning of his fate only after his final contact shortly before he was moved to solitary confinement.
Shahbazi’s lawyers said they filed three requests for retrial, all of which were denied without review of the case documents. Civil rights activists and his family pointed to irregularities in the court proceedings and undue pressure from security forces. The court’s reliance on forced confessions, particularly those extracted from Shahbazi’s former friend Fekri, has been cited as a core grievance by critics of the process.
Adding another layer of complexity, activists contend that the espionage charges were fabricated to punish Shahbazi for writing a letter to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in which he offered to fight for Kyiv against Russia. Iran Human Rights, an Oslo-based group, said, “Babak’s message to President Zelenskyy offering to help in the war against Russia was used as an example of espionage for Israel, who they claim taught Babak to use Microsoft Word.” The Iranian government did not acknowledge or address this claim, but the context is notable: Iran has supplied Russia with drones used in attacks on Ukraine, a move that has sparked internal dissent and further government crackdowns.
The execution of Shahbazi is not an isolated incident. According to official reports and tabulations by Newsweek and the United Nations Office for Human Rights, Iran has executed at least nine people accused of spying for Israel in recent months, with eight such executions publicly announced in the first half of 2025 alone. This surge in capital punishment comes on the heels of the 12-day war between Iran and Israel in June 2025—a conflict that saw Israeli airstrikes kill some 1,100 people, including military commanders, and triggered Iranian missile barrages in response.
During and after the conflict, Iranian authorities detained approximately 21,000 people on various charges, including more than 260 accused of espionage and 172 for unauthorized filming, as reported by Shafaq News. Security forces also arrested eight individuals suspected of passing coordinates and details about senior military figures to Mossad. Meanwhile, 2,774 Afghan migrants were detained as illegal immigrants, some facing spying allegations, and investigators identified 30 “special security cases” through phone examinations.
The broader context is a dramatic escalation in Iran’s use of the death penalty. The United Nations reported that Iran executed at least 975 people in 2024, with 841 executions recorded up to August 28, 2025. Iran Human Rights places the 2025 total even higher, at over 940. The U.N. Office for Human Rights has described this as a “systematic pattern of using the death penalty as a tool of state intimidation,” disproportionately affecting ethnic minorities and migrants. Amnesty International, in a statement, called for “urgent global action to halt further executions in Iran,” demanding a moratorium on the death penalty and the abolition of capital punishment altogether.
Iran’s judiciary chief, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, responded to criticism by asserting that the courts would “act decisively against espionage in coordination with security institutions,” insisting that punishments were applied “from the standpoint of justice and in line with prevailing legal standards.” Nonetheless, international observers and rights groups remain skeptical, pointing to repeated denials of due process and the use of torture to extract confessions as evidence of a deeply flawed system.
Shahbazi’s execution has also underscored the ongoing tensions between Iran and Israel, as well as the internal pressures facing the Iranian government. The country has seen renewed unrest over women’s rights, economic hardship, and the aftermath of Mahsa Amini’s death in police custody in 2022—an incident that sparked months of protest and a violent state response. The government’s aggressive pursuit of alleged spies is seen by many as an attempt to stifle dissent and reassert control during a period of heightened insecurity.
Shahbazi leaves behind an 18-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son, their futures now shadowed by the circumstances of their father’s death. As Iran’s campaign against suspected espionage intensifies, international attention remains fixed on the country’s human rights record and the fate of those caught in the crosshairs of its security apparatus.
