Iranian authorities have executed a graduate student from a prestigious Tehran university on charges of espionage.

US broadcaster CBS News reported on the 11th (local time), citing a report from the Iranian Judiciary's website Mizan Online, that Erfan Shakourizadeh, 29, was executed by hanging after being convicted of collaborating with the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Israel's intelligence agency, Mossad.

Mizan announced that his "confession," where he stated he had worked in satellite technology and provided "his place of work, level of access, duties, and other sensitive information" to foreign intelligence agencies, would be broadcast on state television on Monday evening.

However, two Norway-based human rights organizations, Iran Human Rights (IHR) and Hengaw, released a message from Shakourizadeh, stating that the charges were "baseless" and a "forced false confession" obtained through torture.

Hengaw further reported that Shakourizadeh, who was arrested in February 2025, was transferred from Evin Prison in Tehran to Ghezel Hesar Prison on the outskirts of Tehran earlier this month and was executed at dawn.

According to reports, he was a gifted student who earned an electrical engineering degree from Tabriz University and graduated at the top of his class with a master's degree in aerospace engineering from Iran University of Science and Technology.

Hengaw stated that Shakourizadeh conveyed a message from prison shortly before his execution: "I was arrested on fabricated espionage charges and forced into a false confession after eight and a half months of torture and solitary confinement. Innocent lives should no longer be sacrificed in silence."

Human rights organizations accuse Iran of using the death penalty as a means to instill fear across society amidst domestic and international tensions.

According to them, Iran has the second-highest number of executions in the world after China. A joint annual report on Iran's death penalty system by Iranian human rights organizations and the Paris-based Together Against Death Penalty stated that at least 1,639 people were executed in 2025, including 48 women.

Iran has carried out a series of executions since nationwide protests in January. Human rights organizations have long accused the Iranian government of conducting secret trials where defendants are denied adequate opportunities to defend themselves.

Meanwhile, the head of Iran's Judiciary has repeatedly stated that the pace of executions will be accelerated to confront domestic and foreign enemies.

By Lim Yo-hee