Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 18 March 2026: State media reported the execution of Kourosh Keyvani on charges of “intelligence cooperation and espionage in favour of the Israeli government” at an unspecified location. He is the third person to be hanged for espionage charges in 2026.
According to the judiciary’s Mizan News Agency, a man named Kourosh Keyvani was hanged at an unspecified location on 18 March 2026. He was accused of “intelligence cooperation and espionage in favour of the Israeli government.”
According to Tasnim News Agency, Kourosh was recruited online in 2023 after submitting his personal details through a group travel advertisement link, after which he was contacted by a Mossad officer. He subsequently met with agents abroad, including in Berlin and Paris, and underwent training over a two-year period in Austria, Germany, France, Belgium, Denmark and Slovakia, as well as in Israel. He was reportedly arrested on 16 June 2025, during the fourth day of the 12-day conflict, in Savojbolagh county by the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Kourosh was accused of entering Iran with large sums of cash and carrying out intelligence and logistical activities, including transferring funds to other operatives, identifying and filming sensitive locations, transmitting coordinates and information to Mossad officers, and installing electronic and communications equipment at designated sites. Authorities further claimed that the equipment recovered from him could be used to facilitate communications between operational teams, support drone operations and interfere with missile and air defence systems.
According to the report, Kourosh was tried before the Islamic Revolutionary Court on charges of “intelligence cooperation and espionage in favour of the Israeli government” under Article 6 of the Law on Countering Hostile Actions of the Zionist Regime against Peace and Security. Proceedings were reportedly held in December in the presence of a lawyer of his choosing. The conviction was based on materials including electronic correspondence, videos and images recovered from his devices, as well as confessions attributed to him during the investigation and court proceedings. Following the rejection of his appeal by the Supreme Court, the death sentence was upheld and carried out. The judiciary also ordered the confiscation of assets allegedly linked to the case, including €30,000 in cash, a pickup truck, a motorcycle, satellite communication equipment, laptops and other electronic and surveillance devices.
It is important to note that due process and fair trial rights are systematically breached by Islamic Republic authorities, particularly in cases under the jurisdiction of Revolutionary Courts.
On 16 December 2025, the judiciary’s spokesperson stated that a dual national reported to have held Swedish citizenship since 2020 had been investigated in Alborz Province on espionage charges. Officials alleged that he had been recruited by Israeli intelligence in 2023, had travelled to several European capitals for training, and had entered Iran shortly before the recent 12-day conflict, where he was later arrested with electronic surveillance equipment near Karaj. The case was heard before Branch Two of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Alborz.
As a result, the Islamic Republic’s ambassador to Sweden was summoned on 19 December.
In a statement issued after news of Kourosh's execution was published, the Swedish Foreign Ministry stated: "It is clear to us that the legal process that led to the execution of the Swedish citizen did not meet standards of due process. Responsibility for this lies solely with Iran. Sweden will continue to condemn serious violations of human rights in Iran. Since the arrest in June 2025, Sweden has repeatedly raised this case at various levels with Iranian representatives. In these contacts, we have emphasised Sweden’s expectation that our citizen should receive a fair trial and not be sentenced to death."
Kourosh is the third man to be executed for espionage charges in 2026. Ali Ardestani was hanged on 7 January and Hamidreza Sabet Esmailpour’s execution was reported on 28 January. At least 13 people were executed for similar charges in 2025.
During the 12-day war in 2025, a significant number of individuals were arrested on similar charges. Recent statements by the head of the judiciary, alongside the implementation of a new bill that recently came into force, have heightened concerns about the possible issuance and rapid enforcement of death sentences on espionage charges.
The Islamic Republic has a history of using dual nationals and foreign nationals as bargaining chips in political and economic negotiations with the West. In April 2019, then Iran Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif declared that he had the authority to exchange Iranian-Americans imprisoned in Iran with the US, an admission that these prisoners are being used as political hostages. As well as arresting foreign and dual nationals to use as pawns in their hostage diplomacy, three dissidents were kidnapped from neighbouring countries with assistance from an international drug-cartel and transferred to Iran in 2020. All three were subsequently executed after grossly unfair trial proceedings. Ahmadreza Djalali who is also a Swedish dual-national, has been on death row for espionage charges for a decade.