Iran’s judiciary announced that Mohsen Langar-Neshin was hanged at dawn today after a Revolutionary Court convicted him of “moharebeh (waging war against God) and corruption on earth” for allegedly spying for Israel’s Mossad. Officials described Langar-Neshin as a “senior spy” who provided logistical support for multiple Mossad operations, including the May 2022 assassination of IRGC Colonel Hassan Sayad Khodaei, who was shot five times by two motorcycle-borne gunmen in Tehran.
According to the judiciary, Langar-Neshin was recruited by Mossad in October 2020, met its officers twice—in Georgia and Nepal—to receive assignments, and supplied unregistered SIM cards, mobile phones, and portable internet modems while conducting surveillance of strategic sites. Authorities claim that all legal procedures were followed, yet in a pre-execution video Langar-Neshin’s father said his son was “unjustly caught up in a case riddled with flaws and ambiguities.”
Human-rights sources report that Langar-Neshin was moved to solitary confinement in Ghezel-Hesar Prison in March after his July 2023 arrest in Tehran, and that he endured severe physical and psychological torture to extract a forced confession, with threats against his family. Hengaw rights group holds a 22-minute audio recording in which he details the abuse.
Today’s hanging comes just days after the execution of Hamid Hossein-Nezhad Heidaranlou, another case marred by allegations of coerced confessions. Rights groups have repeatedly condemned Iran for this practice, and Amnesty International’s 2024 report again ranked Iran first worldwide for recorded executions—a position reinforced by these latest deaths.
The National Iranian American Council is deeply disturbed by allegations of torture and forced confessions, which is contrary to Iran’s international legal obligations.