09 February 2020 :

Iran to execute alleged CIA spy, officials say. Iran’s official government news agency IRNA quoted Gholam-Hossein Esmaili, the spokesman of the Judiciary on February 4 that Amir Rahimpour who was “unmasked, tried and convicted of passing on “nuclear information” to the CIA had received the death penalty and the sentence was confirmed. The spokesman added that Rahimpour had received large sums of money, while cooperating with the U.S. spy agency, but he did not disclose any more details about the case. "He will see the consequences of his action soon,” Esmaili added. In addition to the pending capital punishment, Esmali said that 2 other individuals were sentenced to 15 years in prison for spying and acting against Iran's national security. While he didn't release the nationalities of the other 2, Esmali did say that they were "working under the cover of an organization and charitable foundation." Iran’s judicial system often works in secret without due process of law on issues of national security, even when dissidents are accused of security-related crimes. This is the 1st time officials in Iran make a reference to Rahimpour’s case. The only reference to the case came last year from HRANA, an Iranian human rights group based abroad. A news release by the group said at the time that a suspect with a graduate degree in electric engineering was being kept in Tehran’s Evin prison, accused of cooperation with the United States. According to the wire service, last summer Iran had announced that it had broken up a U.S. spy ring of 17 people and that some of them had been sentenced to death. At the time, President Trump responded with a tweet: "The Report of Iran capturing CIA spies is totally false. Zero truth.” The CIA has declined to comment on both situations.