Tehran executes Iranian nuclear scientist for spying for US: judiciary

Iran has executed a nuclear scientist convicted of handing over "top secret" information to the United States, a judicial spokesman said on Sunday.

"Shahram Amiri was hanged for revealing the country's top secrets to the enemy (US)," Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejeie was quoted as saying by the Mizan Online news site.

Tehran and Washington have had no diplomatic ties since 1980, when students stormed the US embassy following the 1979 Islamic revolution.

"Shahram Amiri was tried in accordance with law and in the presence of his lawyer. He appealed his death sentence based on judicial process. The Supreme Court... confirmed it after meticulous reviews," he added.

Media had earlier reported that Shahram Amiri's family claimed he had been executed after his body was returned to his home town with what appeared to be rope marks on his neck, suggesting he had been hanged.

Amiri, who some believe had advanced knowledge of the Iranian nuclear program, went missing in 2009 after going to Mecca on a pilgrimage.

• He reappeared in the US a year later saying that the CIA had kidnapped him and put him under "intense psychological pressure to reveal sensitive information," the BBC reports.

In July 2010, Amiri went to the Iranian section of the Pakistani embassy in Washington DC, requesting to fly back to Iran.

• Although Amiri returned to Iran as a hero, having claimed that he'd escaped from US custody, he was arrested 10 months later, in May 2011, held in a secret location and reportedly tried for treason.

After initially being able to have contact with his family, in November 2015 Amiri's father said that the last time he had seen his son was in September of the same year.

• At the time of his return to Tehran, US officials told the BBC that Amiri had voluntarily defected and furnished the US with "useful information."

• Between 2010 and 2012, four nuclear scientists were assassinated inside Iran and a fifth survived a bomb attack. The government blamed the attacks on US and Israeli intelligence services.

In July 2015 Iran signed a landmark nuclear deal with six world powers, in which it agreed to limit its nuclear program in exchange for lifting of sanctions.
 [i24news.tv]
7/8/16