IRAN: EX-DEFENSE MINISTRY STAFFER HANGED FOR SPYING

June 24, 2019: Jamal Haji-Zavareh was executed in an unknown place in Tehran, reported a close source. According to IHR sources, Seyyed Jamal Haji-Zavareh was executed in Tehran last week. Considering that the news was given on Friday June 21, and that the islamic week ends on Friday, the date could be June 20, or earlier. He was accused of spying for the U.S. and sentenced to death for the charge of “spying for an enemy state.” Prior to his arrest on September 5, 2017, Seyed Jamal (Also known as Siavash) Haji-Zavareh was an employee of Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). He was arrested along with his wife, Leila Tajik. A well-informed source told IHR, “Jamal was held in a place called the death cell. He was tortured severely.” Jamal’s wife, Leila Tajik, was sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment and is held at Kachouei prison of Tehran. The couple has two teenage kids. “They could not have a lawyer of their own choice,” the source said, “Siavash (Seyed Jamal) was in solitary confinement at an unknown place owned by the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence.” According to the source, the couple thought if they kept quiet and didn’t inform the media about their situation, they might be forgiven or their sentence might be reduced. Leila Tajik suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and is denied access to proper medical treatment in prison. "The execution sentence was carried out for Jalal Haji Zavar, a contractor for the defence ministry's aerospace organisation who spied for the CIA and the American government," the semi-official news agency ISNA reported on Saturday, June 22, quoting the Iranian military. ISNA said he was convicted by a military court and that he was executed at an unspecified time at the Rajayi Shahr prison in the city of Karaj, west of the capital, Tehran. The agency did not say when Zavar was arrested, noting, however, that his contract with the defence ministry had been terminated nine years ago. He was identified as a spy by the defence ministry's intelligence unit, ISNA said. During the investigation the suspect "explicitly confessed to spying for the CIA" in return for money, ISNA said, adding that "documents and espionage devices were found at his house". The CIA declined to comment when reached by CNN Saturday. (Source: IHR, ISNA, Cnn, aljazeera.com, telegraph.co.uk, seattletimes.com, 22/06/2019)