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Execution of 3 accused of spying and mass detentions fuel crackdown fears in Iran
Fears that the Iranian regime could be using its war with Israel to crack down on its own population grew Wednesday after three people were executed and hundreds more were arrested and accused of spying.
The three people put to death Wednesday were accused of spying for Mossad, Israel's espionage agency, by bringing “assassination equipment” into the country disguised as shipments of alcoholic beverages that was used in the assassination of a public figure, according to Tasnim, a semiofficial outlet affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
A separate report from the state-aligned Fars News Agency on Wednesday said that more than 700 people it described as “Israeli mercenaries” had been arrested over the last 12 days.
--snip--
“This crackdown was inevitable,” Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at the London-based Chatham House think tank, told NBC News on Wednesday. “I think it’s going to be quite extensive and quite prolonged,” she said, adding that it's “a relatively predictable outcome” for a regime that “remains heavily repressive.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/world/middle-east/iran-crackdown-executions-arrests-israel-spying-trump-regime-change-rcna214917The three people put to death Wednesday were accused of spying for Mossad, Israel's espionage agency, by bringing “assassination equipment” into the country disguised as shipments of alcoholic beverages that was used in the assassination of a public figure, according to Tasnim, a semiofficial outlet affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
A separate report from the state-aligned Fars News Agency on Wednesday said that more than 700 people it described as “Israeli mercenaries” had been arrested over the last 12 days.
--snip--
“This crackdown was inevitable,” Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at the London-based Chatham House think tank, told NBC News on Wednesday. “I think it’s going to be quite extensive and quite prolonged,” she said, adding that it's “a relatively predictable outcome” for a regime that “remains heavily repressive.”