The judiciary of the Iranian regime announced that the death sentence of Aqil Keshavarz, an architecture student at Shahrud University, was carried out on charges of “spying for Israel.” Keshavarz’s family had their final visit with him on Friday, December 19, at Urmia Prison.
Mizan News Agency, a media outlet affiliated with the judiciary of the Iranian regime, reported that he was executed on the morning of Saturday, December 20, “after the sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court and following legal formalities.”
Hours before Keshavarz’s execution, some student and human rights media outlets reported growing concerns about the imminent implementation of his death sentence.
This student from Isfahan had been transferred to a solitary confinement cell at Urmia Prison on December 17 in preparation for the execution.
On Thursday afternoon, Keshavarz’s family went to Urmia Prison, but they were told that their son had been transferred to Tehran.
They ultimately managed to have a final visit at noon on Friday. During the in-person visit, his mother lost consciousness due to severe emotional stress.
Keshavarz had previously been arrested in June, coinciding with the 12-day war with Israel, and was sentenced to death by the Iranian regime’s judiciary on charges of “spying for Israel.”
Meanwhile, Mizan News Agency, affiliated with the judiciary, stated that Keshavarz was arrested in May and, without specifying the exact date, wrote that he was detained by patrol agents of the Iranian regime’s army protection unit.
In its report, Mizan described Keshavarz as an “agent of Mossad and the Zionist regime’s army,” and listed his alleged “crime” as “espionage” in favor of Israel, “intelligence communication and cooperation” with the country, and “photographing military and security sites.”
Earlier, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network had reported that Keshavarz, an architecture student at Shahrud University from Isfahan, was held “for one week” after his arrest at an IRGC Intelligence Organization detention center in Urmia, where he was “interrogated and tortured in order to extract a forced confession of spying for Israel.”
According to this report, he was then transferred to Evin Prison and was there at the time of Israel’s bombing of Evin Prison, after which he was moved to another detention facility.
Meanwhile, the announcement of Keshavarz’s execution has sparked a wave of criticism and condemnation from social media users.
Officials of the Iranian regime have stated that following the 12-day war, more than 700 people have been arrested on suspicion of spying for or collaborating with Israel.
According to human rights reports, in addition to prisoners convicted of ordinary crimes, around 70 prisoners facing political charges in Iranian prisons are currently at risk of having their death sentences approved or carried out, and more than 100 others face the possibility of receiving death sentences on similar charges.
The issuance and implementation of death sentences by the Iranian regime have drawn widespread international criticism.
