Iran executed a man on Wednesday after convicting him of spying for Israel and assisting in the murder of a Revolutionary Guards colonel in a trial activists said was unfair and based on a confession obtained by torture.

Mohsen Langarneshin, reportedly aged 34, was hanged at dawn at Ghezelhesar prison in Karaj outside Tehran, several human rights groups said.

His mother and father held a vigil outside the jail during the night, pleading for his life to be spared, images on social media showed.

The Mizan news agency of the Iranian judiciary confirmed he had been put to death in the morning, describing Langarneshin as a "high-ranking spy" who supported operations inside Iran by Israel's Mossad intelligence agency.

The rate of executions is again surging in Iran with at least 339 people hanged already this year, according to figures from the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) monitor that include the latest executions.

The hanging also comes as........

© Al Monitor