TEHRAN, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- Iran has sentenced three individuals to death over spying for Israel and transferring equipment used in the assassination of high-ranking Iranian nuclear physicist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in 2020, the Mizan news agency of the Iranian judiciary reported Tuesday.
Iran's Judiciary Spokesman Asghar Jahangir told a press conference here that the case is currently in the appeal stage after the three were sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court of Urmia of first instance, the report said.
Jahangir said eight suspects had earlier been identified and arrested in West Azarbaijan province, with three of them being accused of "committing espionage for Israel" after investigations, the report added.
He noted that the three were also accused of transferring equipment to Iran for use in the assassination under the guise of smuggling alcoholic drinks, Mizan reported.
According to a report by the semi-official Tasnim news agency in September 2022, Chief Prosecutor of Tehran Ali Salehi said then that his office had filed criminal charges against 14 individuals for involvement in Fakhrizadeh's assassination.
The prosecutor said the individuals had been accused of "corruption on earth," intelligence and espionage cooperation with Israel, collusion to compromise Iran's security, and acting against national security, according to Tasnim.
Fakhrizadeh, who was head of the Iranian Defense Ministry's Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research, died from severe injuries in a hospital on Nov. 27, 2020, following an armed attack on his car in Absard district, 60 km northeast of Iran's capital Tehran.
Iran has accused Israel of being behind the assassination, while Israel has not commented on the accusation. ■
