Iran says it executed nuclear scientist in US spy mystery

August 07, 2016 17:56

Iran confirmed today that it has executed an Iranian nuclear scientist who gave the US intelligence about the country's contested nuclear programme.

The official IRNA news agency quoted a spokesman for Iran's judiciary, Gholamhosein Mohseni Ejehi, confirming the execution of Shahram Amiri, an Iranian nuclear scientist caught up in a real-life US spy mystery who later returned to his home country and disappeared.

He did not say where or when the execution took place, but said Amiri's initial death sentence had been reviewed by an appeal court and that he had access to a lawyer.

Amiri "provided the enemy with vital information of the country," Ejehi said.

Amiri, who worked for a university affiliated to Iran's defence ministry, vanished in 2009 while on a religious pilgrimage to Muslim holy sites in Saudi Arabia, only to reappear a year later in a set of online videos filmed in the

US. He then walked into the Iranian interests section at the Pakistani Embassy in Washington and demanded to be sent home, returning to a hero's welcome in Tehran.

In interviews, Amiri described being kidnapped and held against his will by Saudi and American spies, while US officials said he was to receive millions of dollars for his help in understanding Iran's contested nuclear programme.

Now, a year after his country agreed to a landmark accord to limit uranium enrichment in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions, he has reportedly been hanged without any official word on his case.

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