According to the Iran International website, the Iranian media identified the executed man as Kuroš Kejvání. He was hanged on Wednesday morning after the Iranian Supreme Court upheld his death sentence. He was accused of passing “images and information about sensitive places” to officers of the Israeli intelligence service Mossad.
Kejvání was arrested in Savojbolagh in Iran’s Alborz province last June, on the fourth day of the then twelve-day war between Iran and Israel and the USA. Iranian authorities have not released any independent evidence to support the allegations.
Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said in her statement that a Swedish citizen was executed in Iran without naming him. However, she confirmed that the person in question was arrested in June.
“The death penalty is inhumane, cruel and irreversible. Sweden, along with the rest of the EU, condemns its application under any circumstances,” she said. “The court proceedings leading to the execution did not meet the standards of due process,” she added.
Kejvání was detained by the intelligence service of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Its members claim that they found money, a car and “advanced tracking and communication equipment” in his possession.
According to the website, the semi-official Iranian Tasnim agency said that the Mossad recruited him through online contacts and that he completed training abroad before returning to Iran. However, this claim cannot be verified from independent sources.
With a population of more than 90 million, Iran is second in the world in terms of the number of executions, after China. According to the non-governmental organization Iran Human Rights (IHR), at least 1,500 people were executed in Iran last year, which is the highest annual figure in the last 35 years. More than 700 of those executed were convicted of drug offences, the Norway-based organization added.
The number of executions, according to the IHR, has increased since the protest movement in response to the death of a young Iranian woman, Mahsa Aminíova, who died in 2022 after being arrested for violating the rules of wearing a hijab. While in the same year there were more than 500 executions, the following year there were already 800 and the year before 975. This was done in connection with protests against the supreme spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the years 2022 to 2023 and against the twelve-day war with Israel last June.
A New Wave of Executions Begins; Kourosh Keyvani Executed This Morning on Charges of Spying for Israel
Kourosh Keyvani was executed this morning on charges of spying for Israel. Official sources say the sentence was carried out after confirmation by the Supreme Court. Human… pic.twitter.com/SpG0uPLWif
— Rojhelat Info (@RojhelatInfo_En) March 18, 2026
