Iran Executes 'Mossad Agent' in Sistan-Baluchistan

A handout picture provided by the Iranian Army office on December 10, 2023, shows Iranian army officials inspecting Iranian homemade Karrar drones displayed next to a banner reading in Persian "Death to Israel" during an inauguration ceremony in Tehran. (Photo by Handout / Iranian Army office / AFP)
A handout picture provided by the Iranian Army office on December 10, 2023, shows Iranian army officials inspecting Iranian homemade Karrar drones displayed next to a banner reading in Persian "Death to Israel" during an inauguration ceremony in Tehran. (Photo by Handout / Iranian Army office / AFP)
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Iran Executes 'Mossad Agent' in Sistan-Baluchistan

A handout picture provided by the Iranian Army office on December 10, 2023, shows Iranian army officials inspecting Iranian homemade Karrar drones displayed next to a banner reading in Persian "Death to Israel" during an inauguration ceremony in Tehran. (Photo by Handout / Iranian Army office / AFP)
A handout picture provided by the Iranian Army office on December 10, 2023, shows Iranian army officials inspecting Iranian homemade Karrar drones displayed next to a banner reading in Persian "Death to Israel" during an inauguration ceremony in Tehran. (Photo by Handout / Iranian Army office / AFP)

Iran on Saturday executed a man who was sentenced to death after being convicted of working with Israel's intelligence services, the judiciary said.

"The death sentence was carried out this morning against a spy of the Zionist regime in Zahedan prison" in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, the judiciary's Mizan Online website said.

According to AFP, it did not identify the man but said he had been convicted of "intelligence cooperation and espionage for the benefit for the hostile Zionist regime (Israel)".

He was also found guilty of "collecting and providing classified information to the Mossad spy service with the aim of disrupting public order", Mizan added.

It was not immediately clear when or where the man was arrested or put on trial.

Iran has previously announced the arrests of alleged agents working for foreign countries, including Israel, its regional arch-foe.

In December 2022, Iran hanged four people who had been convicted of collaborating with Israel's intelligence services.

Tehran accuses Israel of carrying out a wave of sabotage attacks and assassinations targeting its nuclear program.

The United States and Israel accuse Iran of using drones and missiles to attack US forces and Israel-linked ships in the Gulf.

According to human rights groups, including Amnesty International, Iran executes more people per year than any other nation except China.



More than 1,000 Syrians Have Withdrawn Asylum Applications in Cyprus, Hundreds Return Home

Cyprus' deputy Minister of Migration and International Protection Nicholas Ioannides, right, and the EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner shake hands before their meeting at the Deputy Ministry of Migration and International Protection in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Friday, Jan. 17, 2025. (AP)
Cyprus' deputy Minister of Migration and International Protection Nicholas Ioannides, right, and the EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner shake hands before their meeting at the Deputy Ministry of Migration and International Protection in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Friday, Jan. 17, 2025. (AP)
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More than 1,000 Syrians Have Withdrawn Asylum Applications in Cyprus, Hundreds Return Home

Cyprus' deputy Minister of Migration and International Protection Nicholas Ioannides, right, and the EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner shake hands before their meeting at the Deputy Ministry of Migration and International Protection in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Friday, Jan. 17, 2025. (AP)
Cyprus' deputy Minister of Migration and International Protection Nicholas Ioannides, right, and the EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner shake hands before their meeting at the Deputy Ministry of Migration and International Protection in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Friday, Jan. 17, 2025. (AP)

More than 1,000 Syrian nationals have withdrawn their applications for asylum or international protection because they intend to return to their homeland, while another 500 have already gone back, a Cypriot official said Friday.

Cyprus’ Deputy Minister for Migration and International Protection Nicholas Ioannides said after talks with European Migration and Home Affairs Commissioner Magnus Brunner that the development comes in the wake of the fall of the Assad government in Syria last month.

Cyprus has adopted tougher polices in the last few years to stem the arrival of thousands of migrants either by boat from neighboring Lebanon or Syria or from Türkiye via the island’s breakaway Turkish Cypriot north. Cypriot officials had said that the percentage of irregular migrants relative to the population had been as high as 6% — six times the European average.

The tougher policies have borne fruit, according to Ioannides. Speaking earlier this week, he said some 10,000 irregular migrants left Cyprus last year, either through voluntary returns, deportations or relocations to other European nations, making the island the European Union’s leader in departures relative to arrivals.

New asylum applications in 2024 amounted to 6,769 – a 41% drop from the previous year and about a third of those filed in 2022.

Ioannides had said the drop in new asylum applications has enabled authorities to more quickly process outstanding applications and offer the necessary support to those who qualify for international protection.

The minister said arrivals by boat in recent months — particularly from Lebanon — have dropped to nil, thanks to increased patrols and cooperation with neighboring governments and European and international authorities.

Last May, the EU unveiled a 1 billion euro ($1.03 billion) aid package for Lebanon to boost border control to halt the flow of asylum seekers and migrants from the country across the Mediterranean Sea to Cyprus and Italy.

But Cyprus has been called out for breaching the rights of migrants. Last October, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Cyprus violated the right of two Syrian nationals to seek asylum in the island nation after keeping them and more than two dozen other people aboard a boat at sea for two days before sending them back to Lebanon.