Three men accused of spying for Israel were hanged in Iran on Wednesday, the day after a fragile truce between the Islamic Republic and Israel came into effect after a 12-day war.

Idris Ali, Rasoul Ahmad Rasoul and Azad Shojai were executed in Urmia (northwest), accused of "cooperating in favor of the Zionist regime," announced the judiciary, which released photos of the three men wearing the blue prison uniform.

These hangings bring to six the number of executions of people convicted on these charges since June 13, the date of the first Israeli strikes in Iran.

Human rights defenders have denounced arbitrary executions and summary trials held in a context of war.

"The Islamic Republic sentenced Idris Ali, Rasoul Ahmad Rasoul, and Azad Shojai to death without a fair trial and based on confessions obtained under torture," Mahmoud Amiry-Moghaddam, director of the Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights, told AFP.

They were sentenced to death in 2024.

Two of them, Ali and Shojai, members of Iran's Kurdish minority, were border guards, said Mahmoud Amiry-Moghaddam. "They were arrested for smuggling alcoholic beverages into Iran but were forced to confess to spying for Israel," he added.

The third was also Kurdish, but of Iraqi nationality.

Iran regularly announces the arrest and execution of agents believed to be working for the intelligence services of foreign countries, including Israel.

The Iranian government promised on Sunday to speed up the trials following the offensive launched on June 13 by Israel, clearly fueled by very precise intelligence data.

- "Imminent risk" -

According to Mr. Amiry-Moghaddam, "hundreds" of prisoners are at risk of execution in the coming weeks.

"After the ceasefire with Israel, the Islamic Republic needs repression to mask its military failure, prevent protest movements and ensure its survival," he said.

These executions also increase fears for the life of Swedish-Iranian Ahmadreza Djalali, who has been on death row for nearly eight years and is also accused of spying for Israel.

Arrested in 2016, Mr. Djalali was sentenced to death the following year for espionage, after a trial denounced by Amnesty International as "manifestly arbitrary" and after "confessions extracted under torture."

The academic, who was being held in Tehran's Evin Prison, the target of Israeli strikes on Monday, has been transferred to an unknown location, raising fears of an imminent execution, according to his family and Swedish diplomats.

"He called me and said, 'They're going to transfer me.' I asked where, and he said, 'I don't know,'" his wife, Vida Mehrannia, told AFP on Monday. "Is it because they want to carry out the sentence? Or for some other reason? I don't know."

"I am very worried because since last week, they (the Iranian authorities, editor's note) have executed several people," added Ms. Mehrannia.

The Swedish Foreign Minister confirmed in a statement that he had "received information that Swedish citizen Ahmadreza Djalali, sentenced to death in Iran, was taken from his cell to an unknown location for an unknown reason."

- "Scapegoats" -

Human rights organizations regularly denounce the summary trials for espionage in Iran and the accusation of "corruption on earth," which is punishable by the death penalty, often brought against defendants.

Western intelligence sources and researchers acknowledge that Israeli intelligence has deeply infiltrated Iran for years, as evidenced by the targeted executions of senior military leaders during the conflict. But for NGOs, those executed for espionage are merely scapegoats.

According to these organizations, dozens of people have been arrested in Iran since June 13.

According to IHR, Iran has executed 594 prisoners on various charges since the beginning of the year.