Iran said Mahmoud Mousavi Majd, a man convicted of spying on the Iranian military for the United States and Israel, has been executed.
“Mahmoud Mousavi Majd’s sentence was carried out on Monday morning over the charge of espionage so that the case of his betrayal to his country will be closed forever,” Iran’s judiciary announced on Monday.
Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said earlier this month that Majd spied “on various security fields, especially the armed forces and the Quds Force and the whereabouts and movements of martyr General Qassem Soleimani,” according to the Times of Israel.
Iran has said Majd’s intelligence about Soleimani’s location preceded his death but was not tied to the military commander’s killing in January by a U.S. drone strike. According to Esmaili, Majd was arrested in October 2018 and had received money from both the CIA and Mossad, Israel’s main intelligence agency.
The CIA declined to comment on the execution when contacted by the Washington Examiner.
In the 1970s, Majd began a career as a translator after moving to Syria, where authorities said he was able to rub elbows with Iranian officials. Although not part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Majd was accused of infiltrating “many sensitive areas under the cover of being a translator.”
“His knowledge of Arabic and familiarity with Syria’s geography made him close to Iranian military advisers and he took responsibilities in groups stationed from Idlib to Latakia,” Iran’s judiciary said.
An Iranian investigation found that he had been paid “American dollars to reveal information on adviser convoys, military equipment and communication systems, commanders and their movements, important geographical areas, codes and passwords,” the judiciary said.
Shahin Gobadi, spokesman for the Iranian opposition group People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, told the Washington Examiner on Monday that his group “strongly condemned” the execution.
“Mousavi Majd’s record notwithstanding, this execution was not carried out based on any humanitarian guidelines and laws. No credible trial was conducted, and no universally recognized principles were observed. Nor were the rights of the defendant respected,” Gobadi said.
Last week, Esmaili announced that his country had executed Reza Asgari, a former defense ministry employee who Iran claims also sold information to the CIA.
Iran has been under heavy scrutiny for its executions. The viral Farsi hashtag #DontExecute trended worldwide after the country said it would proceed with killing three young men who were arrested for their role in last November’s mass protests. The Iranian government was accused of disrupting internet access in the country to squelch the dissent. President Trump sent a tweet in Farsi last week condemning the planned executions.
Over the weekend, amid public pressure, Iran announced it would be putting a hold on executing the three men. One of their lawyers, Babak Paknia, said the Supreme Court had agreed to a retrial in the case.
A spokesman with the State Department declined to comment on the Monday announcement when contacted by the Washington Examiner.
