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Iran on Wednesday executed a man convicted of spying for Israel, in defiance of pleas from his family and activists for his life to be spared after what they described as an unfair trial.Pedram Madani, 41, was hanged in Ghezelhesar prison in Karaj outside Tehran after earlier this week being transferred from Evin prison in the capital where he had been held following his arrest in 2019.He is the second man to be executed by Iran on charges of spying for Israel within two months, amid a surge in executions on all charges which activists say is aimed at instilling fear in the population.The hanging comes against the background of a new period of escalating tensions between Iran and Israel, which the Islamic republic does not recognise, over the Iranian nuclear programme.The judiciary’s Mizan Online website said Madani had been “spying in favour of the Zionist regime”, using the term employed by institutions in the Islamic republic to denote Israel. “Following the complete process of criminal procedure and the final confirmation and upholding of the verdict by the Supreme Court, he was brought to justice and executed,” it said.- ‘Unfair process’ -But activists and his family said that the case against him was deeply flawed and he had notably been denied the right to a lawyer of his choosing during the legal process.Madani “was sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court without access to a lawyer of his choice, through an unfair and non-transparent process orchestrated by security agencies,” Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the director of Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR) which tracks the death penalty in Iran, told AFP.”The Islamic Republic’s goal in executing Pedram Madani and others who are hanged daily is solely to instill fear within society and to conceal the regime’s widespread corruption and systemic failures.”The Dadban legal monitor said in a statement on social media that in such a trial before a Revolutionary Court the defendant is denied the possibility of defending himself and the judge also has “no option” of rejecting the case.”It is more than a legal accusation — it is a charge used as a tool to issue and carry out the death penalty,” it said.In a video posted on Tuesday by IHR and other groups warning of the risk of the imminent execution, his mother described Madani as a “man who loves his country and loves his family.””My son’s case is full of flaws and his death sentence must be revoked,” she said.- ‘False confessions’ -There had on the eve of the execution been numerous pleas from Iranian campaigners for his life to be spared, including from Nobel peace prize winner Narges Mohammadi, currently on temporary release from serving her own prison sentence.”The Islamic republic uses the death penalty as a tool to instill fear and intensify repression against the people,” she said in a video statement.”There was not even a chosen lawyer on the case. Pedram’s cellmates testify he confessed falsely and under pressure. In Revolutionary Courts these false confessions serve as the basis of death sentences,” she added.According to Mizan, Madani was accused of transmitting classified information and holding meetings with Mossad officers abroad, including in Brussels.The judiciary said he had travelled to “the occupied territories” —  the term used by Iranian officials to describe Israel — prior to his arrest in 2020–2021.He was also convicted of acquiring “illicit wealth” by receiving euros and bitcoin from Israel.In April, Iran executed Mohsen Langarneshin for allegedly aiding Mossad in the 2022 killing of an Islamic Revolutionary Guards colonel in Tehran.Rights groups including IHR have said Langarneshin was executed after an unfair trial and a confession extracted under torture.According to IHR, there have been at least 478 executions in Iran this year alone, including more than 60 hangings in the last 10 days.

France and Indonesia called Wednesday for progress on “mutual recognition” between Israel and the Palestinians at a key meeting next month as Emmanuel Macron visited Jakarta, bringing the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation into his diplomatic efforts.It came as Paris and Jakarta signed a series of cooperation agreements, with Macron seeking to deepen trade and defence ties with Southeast Asia’s largest economy on a three-country tour promoting France as a balancing power between the United States and China.Speaking next to his French counterpart, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto made a rare pledge to recognise Israel if it allowed for a Palestinian state. Indonesia has no formal ties with Israel and support for the Palestinian cause runs high there.”Indonesia sees that the two-state solution and the freedom of Palestine is the only way to achieve the true peace,” Prabowo told a news conference.”We must acknowledge and guarantee Israel’s rights as a sovereign country that must be paid attention to and guaranteed safety. Indonesia has stated that once Israel recognises Palestine, Indonesia is ready to recognise Israel and open the diplomatic relationship.”Macron said Paris hopes to “trigger a movement of recognition for a Palestinian state under certain conditions”, including the demilitarisation of Hamas and recognition of Israel’s right to exist and protect itself.”This is the only way and your president this morning made a very important speech,” he said of Prabowo’s remarks.Macron earlier issued a joint statement with Prabowo that condemned Israeli plans to take control of Gaza and any moves to “forcibly remove the Palestinian population from their homeland”.But they also called for restoring the political prospect of the two-state solution at a conference Paris will co-chair with Saudi Arabia at the UN headquarters in New York next month, and expressed hope for a “credible roadmap”.They said the event “should allow for an irreversible path towards the realisation of a Palestinian State, (and) mutual recognition between Israel and Palestine”.Macron held talks with Prabowo after being greeted by a gun salute and thousands of young Indonesians waving French flags.”Our partnership on all the fields, defence and security, economy, culture is already strong, but we are strengthening it,” Macron told Prabowo.”Thank you very much for your support, our friendship and your very special attachment to France.”Prabowo replied: “Merci beaucoup, monsieur!”- ‘Third way’ -The nations on Wednesday signed a series of memoranda of understanding on cooperation in a range of fields including defence, trade, agriculture, disaster management, culture and transport.The French president was later scheduled to meet investors and students, and attend a state dinner. On Thursday, he will travel to Yogyakarta on Indonesia’s Java island to visit the world’s largest Buddhist temple, before heading to Singapore to conclude his six-day tour. In the face of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and Washington’s economic confrontation with China, Macron was seeking to turn his “third way” position into contracts for French companies, particularly in defence, energy and critical minerals.French Armed Forces Minister Sebastien Lecornu said Indonesia signed a letter of intent for future purchases of more Rafale jets from French company Dassault Aviation, without specifying figures or a timeline.Indonesia also pledged to buy light frigates and Scorpene submarines, as well as Caesar howitzers and ammunition from French-German defence group KNDS, the minister wrote on X.French mining giant Eramet also signed a memorandum of understanding with Indonesia’s new sovereign wealth funds Danantara and the Indonesian Investment Authority “to explore the establishment of a strategic investment platform in the nickel sector”, the mining firm said in a statement.In Vietnam on Tuesday, Macron presented France as a “power of peace and balance”, committed to an international order “based on law”.This was viewed as a message both to Beijing, which has become increasingly assertive in its territorial claims in the South China Sea, and to Washington over Trump’s threats of wide-ranging tariffs.Macron warned that “constantly creating uncertainty” with trade policy was “holding back investment and the economy”.

France and Indonesia called Wednesday for progress on “mutual recognition” between Israel and the Palestinians at a key meeting next month as Emmanuel Macron visited Jakarta, bringing the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation into his diplomatic efforts.It came as Paris and Jakarta signed a series of cooperation agreements, with Macron seeking to deepen trade and …

France, Indonesia call for Israeli-Palestinian progress as Macron visits Read More »

French activists dyed a Paris fountain red Wednesday to symbolise what they called the “bloodbath” of Palestinians in Gaza.Activists from Oxfam and Amnesty International poured dye into the Fontaine des Innocents in the heart of the French capital, while others held placards saying “Cease fire” and “Gaza: stop the bloodbath”.”This operation aims to denounce France’s slow response to an absolute humanitarian emergency facing the people of Gaza today,” the activists, which included the French branch of Greenpeace, said in a joint statement.”France cannot limit itself to mere verbal condemnations,” said former minister Cecile Duflot, executive director of Oxfam France.Clemence Lagouardat, who helped coordinate Oxfam’s humanitarian response in Gaza, denounced the Israeli blockade of the besieged territory.”The people in Gaza need everything, it’s a matter of survival,” she told AFP.The October 7, 2023 attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official data.Militants also abducted 251 people, of whom 57 are still being held in Gaza, including 34 declared dead by the Israeli army.The Israeli offensive launched in retaliation has killed at least 53,977 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to data from the Hamas-run health ministry, which is considered reliable by the UN.Israel has now stepped up a renewed campaign to destroy Hamas, drawing international condemnation as aid trickles in following a blockade since early March that has sparked severe food and medical shortages.”There is a genocide going on and political inaction is becoming a kind of complicity in this genocide,” said Jean-Francois Julliard, head of Greenpeace France.”We call on (President) Emmanuel Macron to act with courage, clarity and determination to put an end to this bloodshed.”The activists urged states “with influence over Israel” to press for an immediate and lasting ceasefire, an arms embargo on Israel, the revision of a cooperation agreement between the EU and Israel and other measures. Macron has accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “unacceptable” and “shameful” behaviour in blocking aid to the Palestinians in Gaza.In response Netanyahu has accused Macron of siding with a “murderous Islamist terrorist organisation”.

Nearly 380 writers from the UK and Ireland, including Zadie Smith and Ian McEwan, penned an open letter Wednesday denouncing what they called Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza and urging a ceasefire.The letter called on “our nations and the peoples of the world to join us in ending our collective silence and inaction in the face of horror,” they wrote in a letter published on the Medium website.”The use of the words ‘genocide’ or ‘acts of genocide’ to describe what is happening in Gaza is no longer debated by international legal experts or human rights organisations,” the letter continued.Israel has repeatedly denied all accusations of genocide in its campaign to crush Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.The letter comes a day after 300 French-language writers, including Nobel Literature prize winners Annie Ernaux and Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio, signed a similar statement condemning “genocide”.”Palestinians are not the abstract victims of an abstract war. Too often, words have been used to justify the unjustifiable, deny the undeniable, defend the indefensible,” the British and Irish writers said.The writers, including novelist Elif Shafak and playwright Hanif Kureishi as well as the Scottish and Welsh writers PEN clubs, called for a ceasefire, the “immediate distribution of food and medical aid” in Gaza and sanctions on Israel.International condemnation has grown over Israel’s humanitarian aid blockade and relentless strikes after it ended a ceasefire in March and intensified military operations this month. The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said 53,977, mostly civilians, have been killed in Israel’s offensive since October 2023, when a Hamas attack on Israel triggered the war.Some 1,218 were killed in the Hamas attack, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Militants also took 251 hostages, 57 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 who the Israeli military says are dead.”This is not only about our common humanity and all human rights; this is about our moral fitness as the writers of our time,” the writers said.On Monday over 800 UK-based legal experts, including former Supreme Court justices, wrote to Prime Minister Keir Starmer saying: “Genocide is being perpetrated in Gaza or, at a minimum, there is a serious risk of genocide occurring.”Serious violations of international law are being committed and are further threatened by Israel,” the lawyers said, adding the UK is “legally obliged to take all reasonable steps within their power to prevent and punish genocide.”