Majid Jamali Fashi, 'Israeli assassin,' hanged in Iran

GlobalPost

Iran has hanged one of its nationals, Majid Jamali Fashi, who was accused of spying for Israel and assassinating an Iranian nuclear scientist.

Jamali Fashi was hanged today at Evin Prison in Tehran, Reuters said, citing local news reports. He was 24.

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He was convicted in August last year of the murder of Massoud Ali Mohammadi, a particle physics professor who was killed in January 2010 by a remote-controlled bomb planted outside his home in Tehran.

According to Iran's state-owned Press TV, Jamali Fashi was also found guilty of "receiving training from Mossad inside Israel as well as $120,000 to assassinate the Iranian scientist."

He supposedly confessed to the charges.

At least five Iranian scientists have been killed in the past two years, most recently in January when a deputy director of Iran's Nantanz uranium enrichment plant, Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, was the target of a bomb attack. 

Iran has blamed the deaths, variously, on Israel, the US and the UK, claiming the Western powers are attempting to sabotage its nuclear program.

Iran's Atomic Energy Organization said at the time that Professor Mohammadi was not involved in the government's nuclear activities, Reuters notes.

According to the BBC, opposition sources in Iran have accused the government of killing him because he was one of their supporters.

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