Iran on Wednesday executed a man convicted of spying for Israel, in defiance of pleas from his family and activists for his life to be spared after what they described as an unfair trial.

Pedram Madani, 41, was hanged in Ghezelhesar prison in Karaj outside Tehran after earlier this week being transferred from Evin prison in the capital where he had been held following his arrest in 2019.

He is the second man to be executed by Iran on charges of spying for Israel within two months, amid a surge in executions on all charges which activists say is aimed at instilling fear in the population.

The hanging comes against the background of a new period of escalating tensions between Iran and Israel, which the Islamic republic does not recognise, over the Iranian nuclear programme.

The judiciary's Mizan Online website said Madani had been "spying in favour of the Zionist regime", using the term employed by institutions in the Islamic republic to denote Israel.

"Following the........

© Al Monitor