Iran executes man convicted of CIA spying
Iran has executed a former translator convicted of spying for the United States and Israel and helping to locate Gen Soleimani who was killed by the US, the judiciary said.
Major General Qasem Soleimani – a top Iranian general – was killed in a US drone strike near Baghdad airport in January and brought the US and Iran to the brink of conflict.
The judiciary’s Mizan Online website said Mahmoud Mousavi Majd’s death “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.”
Majd had been sentenced to death for spying on “various security fields, especially the armed forces and the Quds Force and the whereabouts and movements of martyr General Qasem Soleimani.”
Majd was found guilty of receiving large sums of money from America’s CIA and Israel’s Mossad, said spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili.
After Solemiani’s death, Iran retaliated by firing a volley of ballistic missiles at US troops stationed in Iraq, but President Trump opted against responding militarily.
The attack on the Iraqi US bases did not result in any deaths but left many of the soldiers with brain trauma.
Majd was arrested two years ago and wasn’t directly involved in the killing of Solemani, according to a statement the judiciary issued in June.
Who was Majd?
Majd had migrated to Syria in the 1970s with his family and worked as an English and Arabic language translator at a company, Mizan said.
When war broke out he stayed in the country.
“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,” the site said.
He was not a member of the Revolutionary Guards “but infiltrated many sensitive areas under the cover of being a translator.”
He was paid “American dollars to reveal information on adviser convoys, military equipment and communication systems, commanders and their movements, important geographical areas, codes and passwords” until he came under scrutiny and his access was downgraded.
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