Iran sentences three people to death for killing nuclear scientist

2024-11-05 15:30:10, Kosova & Bota CNA

Iran's judiciary said on Tuesday that three people have been sentenced to death by a first-instance court for the killing of Iran's top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. Tehran says he was killed in an operation orchestrated by Israel.

"The punishment of these three people was pronounced in the Revolutionary Court of Urmia. They were sentenced to death at the initial stage and the case is now at the appeal stage," said Asghar Jahangir, spokesman for Iran's judiciary, at a conference in Tehran.

Urmia is a city in Iran's northwestern province of West Azerbaijan, which is located near the borders with Turkey and Syria.

The sentencing of the three people, whose names have not been released, comes at a time when tensions between Iran and Israel are on the rise, due to the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon.

Israel has also been blamed for the killing of at least four other Iranian scientists who were suspected of working on Tehran's military nuclear program.

Fakhrizadeh, known as the father of the Islamic republic's nuclear program, has been sanctioned by the United States for his role in Iran's nuclear research, while Israel accused him in 2018 of being the architect of Iran's efforts to develop a weapon. nuclear.

"After several investigations, three of the eight people arrested in the province of West Azerbaijan were accused of spying for the occupying regime, Israel," Jahangir said, adding that the case has now gone to the "appeal stage."

Jahangir said the case against the other defendants is ongoing.

Fakhrizadeh was killed in an ambush while traveling by car in his hometown of Absard, near Tehran, on November 27, 2020.

Iran blamed Israel, while suggesting that the United States had a direct or indirect role in his murder.

The circumstances of the attack remain unclear.

Initial reports shortly after the killing suggested that Fakhrizadeh was attacked by a truck full of explosives, several gunmen and a suicide bomber.

Just days later, the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) offered a different account of the incident, saying a machine gun equipped with a "smart satellite-controlled system" that used "artificial intelligence" was used in killing the scientist, while his wife, who was traveling with him, remained unharmed.

Israel has not commented on Fakhrizadeh's murder./ REL