Iran sentences 3 to death over 2020 killing of nuclear scientist blamed on Israel

Iran has sentenced three people to death over the 2020 assassination of one of the country’s top nuclear scientists, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the judiciary says.

“The judicial processes of these three people were carried out in the Revolutionary Court of Urmia, and they were sentenced to death in the initial stage, and the case is currently in the appeal stage,” judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir tells a Tehran press conference.

Fakhrizadeh was killed when his car was ambushed on a highway outside the capital in November 2020, in an attack Iran blamed on Israel.

“After some investigations, three people out of eight arrested in West Azerbaijan province, were accused of committing espionage for the occupying regime of Israel,” Jahangir says.

He adds that the three are also “accused of transporting equipment into Iran for the assassination of martyr Fakhrizadeh under the guise of smuggling alcoholic beverages.”

In December 2022, then judiciary spokesman Massoud Setayeshi said nine people had been charged with the capital offense of “corruption on earth” for their suspected collusion with Israel in the assassination.

Fakhrizadeh had been under US sanctions for his role in Iran’s nuclear program when he was killed.

Iranian authorities said the attackers used a bomb and a remote-controlled machine gun.

Israel has never commented on the killing.

In 2018, the Israeli government accused Fakhrizadeh of leading Iran’s efforts to develop an atomic bomb, a claim Iran has always vehemently denied.

The sentencing of the three comes the day after a Jewish Iranian man, Arvin Nathaniel Ghahremani, was executed in Iran after a two-year battle by his family and the local Jewish community to save his life. He was executed over a fatal stabbing he claimed was in self-defense.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.