Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 11 May 2026: State media reported that Erfan Shakourzadeh, a 29-year-old elite master’s student at Iran University of Science and Technology, was executed on charges of “spying for Israel and the United States.”
Condemning this execution in the strongest terms, IHRNGO calls on the international community to react and raise the political cost of executions for the Islamic Republic.
According to ISNA, citing a statement by the Judiciary, Erfan Shakourzadeh, a 29-year-old master’s student sentenced to death on charges of “espionage for Israel and the United States,” was hanged on 11 May 2026. The report did not specify the location of the execution. However, he was reportedly transferred to Ghezelhesar Prison in Karaj on 7 May.
Erfan Shakourzadeh held a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Tabriz and was pursuing a master’s degree in satellite technology. He was arrested in February 2025 and subsequently sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court.
In a letter written from prison, he wrote: “I am Erfan Shakourzadeh, 29 years old, one of the few so-called elites who chose not to emigrate. A few months before the 12-day war, I was arrested by the IRGC Intelligence Organisation on baseless charges of espionage and collaboration with hostile countries. During eight and a half months of torture and solitary confinement, I was forced into making false confessions. Do not let another innocent life be taken in silence and without public awareness.”
The implementation of death sentences had first been largely halted following the start of US and Israeli military attacks against Iran on 28 February 2026. However, since 18 March, at least 14 protesters and 10 political prisoners affiliated with banned opposition groups, five people charged with espionage, as well as 19 prisoners convicted of murder and drug-related offences, have been executed.
Erfan Shakourzadeh is the fifth person to be executed on espionage charges since the start of the war. Kourosh Keyvani was executed on 18 March 2026, Mehdi Farid on 22 April 2026, and Yaghoub Karimpour and Naser Bakerzadeh on 2 May 2026 on the same charges.