Iran executes political prisoner accused of spying for Israel

Shahbazi, a father of two, had been moved to solitary confinement on Tuesday after a court in Tehran rejected his third request for a retrial, sources close to the family told Iran International.

He was detained in January 2024 and later convicted of “spying for Israel” and “corruption on earth,” charges he denies.

Rights groups have described the proceedings as grossly unfair and based on forced confessions obtained under torture.

"The court rejected our request for a retrial for the third time this morning and moved him to solitary confinement by around noon," the source said.

"We are worried they may have taken him to solitary confinement in preparation for execution," the source said.

Shahbazi was being held in Ghezel Hesar prison, one of the largest in Iran, located about 20 kilometers northwest of the capital, Tehran.

His initial sentence was handed down in May 2025 by Judge Abolghasem Salavati, who was sanctioned by the United States in 2019 for presiding over unfair trials, extracting forced confessions, and imposing harsh sentences on political prisoners and journalists.

Messages to Zelensky

The source said Shahbazi had sent messages to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in 2022, offering help against the Russian invasion.

The messages were later falsified by Iranian authorities to make them appear as if they had been addressed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli military, according to the source.

“They have no evidence against him, and they haven’t even given the family a final visit, which usually happens before an execution,” the source said.

During his detention, authorities placed Shahbazi in a cell with a prisoner who was a member of the Islamic State, the Sunni Muslim militant group.

“It was as if they deliberately wanted him to be killed in prison. When the family visited him days later, both his eyes were bruised,” the source said.

Shahbazi was pressured to write dictated confessions under the promise that his death sentence would be commuted to three years if he signed them in front of his lawyer, according to the source.

“He refused to sign because he hadn’t done those things. They even slipped in pages that weren’t his writing and told him to sign, but he didn’t. Despite that, the court sentenced him to death on the basis of unsigned dictated notes,” the source said.

The source said authorities also relied on a coerced statement by Esmail Fekri, who was executed in June after being convicted of spying for Israel. Rights groups described his trial as unfair as well.

“They told him if he confessed against Babak (Shahbazi), his cryptocurrency would be returned to him. He even later wrote a letter saying he had been forced to make that confession,” the source said.