The Iran government executed a Defence Ministry contractor, Jalal Haji Zarvar on Friday, who was convicted of spying for America’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), according to the ISNA news agency.
According to the ISNA report, “The execution sentence was carried out for Jalal Haji Zavar, a contractor for the Defence Ministry’s aerospace organisation who spied for the CIA and the American government.”
“Jalal Haji Zavar was convicted and executed by Iran’s military court at an unspecified time at the Rajayi Shahr prison in the city of Karaj, west of Tehran,” added the news agency.
Zarvar was identified as a spy by the Defence Ministry’s intelligence unit, ISNA said.
During the investigation, the suspect has “explicitly confessed to spying for the CIA in return for money”, ISNA news agency said, while referring to “documents and espionage devices that were found at Zarvar house”.
“Zavar’s ex-wife was also convicted of involvement in espionage” and she has been serving her jail sentence for 15 years,” the agency said.
Iran uses the death penalty for murder, rape, armed robbery and serious drug trafficking cases as well as for cases of military espionage.
The report comes a days after when Iran said that it had dismantled a “new” US spy network in the country linked to the CIA amid escalating tensions between Tehran and Washington.
Tensions between Washington and Tehran flared up after Iran said that it shot down a US spy drone which violated its airspace.
The downing of the drone came after tensions spiked up between the two countries following a series of attacks on oil tankers early this month.