Iran hangs man over alleged ties to Pahlavi and ‘Israel’

Iran executed Ali Sina Mostafavi, a 38-year-old mountaineer and musician from Bam in Kerman province, by hanging on Wednesday morning, state media reported.

The judiciary-affiliated Mizan news agency said the Supreme Court had upheld his death sentence for moharebeh, or “waging war against God,” along with other security-related charges.

Authorities described him as “an armed terrorist and agent of the American-Zionist enemy” during what they call the Ramadan War with ‘Israel’ and the United States earlier this year.

According to the judiciary, Mostafavi carried out a series of shootings in Kerman.

On March 24 he allegedly opened fire in Azadi Square, wounding a civilian and a young girl.

On April 21 he reportedly fired at conscript soldiers and passing vehicles, injuring several people, and also attempted attacks on police along the Kerman-Mahan road.

Officials claimed a search of his hideout uncovered a Brno rifle with telescopic sight, shotguns, 246 rounds of ammunition, and 30 Molotov cocktails.

They further accused him of filming sites struck by enemy projectiles and sending the footage, along with protest videos, to foreign Persian-language media.

The judiciary said Mostafavi was a supporter of the monarchist movement linked to exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi and maintained contacts with ‘Israeli’-linked outlets.

Mizan reported that messages on his phone showed readiness to attack Kerman airport and that he had sent messages to an official ‘Israeli’ account.

The case was heard by Branch 1 of the Kerman Revolutionary Court under Judge Hadi Aghaei; the Supreme Court confirmed the verdict on September 28.

Human rights groups offered a sharply different account.

Breathing in Confinement, the outlet of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, said armed officers arrested Mostafavi at his home in the early hours of April 25 and beat him during the arrest.

The League for the Defense of Human Rights in Iran and HRANA echoed reports of physical abuse and raised concerns that forced confessions may have been used. None of the judiciary’s allegations could be independently verified.

Mostafavi was known in climbing circles as an accomplished Himalayan mountaineer.

He had successfully climbed Island Peak and Kala Patthar in Nepal and reached about 6,600 meters on an attempt of Ama Dablam.

He was also a musician who played the tar.

Rights organizations noted that he had taken part in the anti-government protests of December 2025 and January 2026, which Iranian authorities label a failed coup attempt.

The execution comes amid a broader wave of hangings linked both to the war that began in late February and to the earlier nationwide protests.

Human rights monitors have long criticized Iran’s extensive use of the death penalty, arguing that authorities deploy it for intimidation as well as punishment.

On the day before the hanging, Breathing in Confinement warned that Mostafavi had been moved to solitary confinement in Kerman’s Shahab Prison, a common signal that an execution is imminent; his family was summoned for a final visit.

Iranian state media framed the case as a legitimate response to wartime sabotage and collaboration with external enemies.