An Iranian nuclear scientist who was caught up in a US government spy mystery after he went missing in 2009 but later returned to his homeland a year after, been put to death, media reports confirm.
The accused allegedly claimed he was abducted by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) but reappeared in public a year later in Washington, and returned home on July 14, 2010.
Mr Amiri’s execution follows the hanging of 20 people in Iran last week for alleged terrorism offences.
Foreign media reports quoted his mother as saying that “Shahram Amiri was hanged this week and a memorial has been observed in Kermanshah, 500 kilometres south-west of Tehran”.
The day before his execution, his family visited him for the last time, Inquisitr wrote.
State media in Iran, which has been silent about Amiri’s case for years, has not reported his death, The National wrote.
Plans for a movie about his alleged kidnap was banned by the government in May 2011, another media report confirms.
Amiri’s sin against the country takes root on the fact that “he was kidnapped by the CIA in May 2009 while on a pilgrimage to holy sites in Saudi Arabia”–or so he claimed.
After his disappearance in 2009, reports confirm that videos suspected to have been recorded in the US surfaced online a year later, showing the missing person. In the video clip, he reportedly claimed to have been held against his will in a house where he was put under “intense psychological pressure to reveal sensitive information”.
According to the Associated Press, Iran claimed he was planted in Washington to provide information to Iran’s intelligence service about the CIA, but the US said he willingly defected only to change his mind.
The Independent reported that Amiri was hailed a hero by his countrymen after he arrived at the Iranian Embassy in Washington DC.
But at the time, US officials told the BBC that Mr Amiri, a specialist in radiation safety, had defected to America of his own free will, and had provided “useful information” to the US.
The people’s hero who stood accused for over 5 years has finally been tried for treason, and reportedly executed by the government.
Image: Shahram Amiri exchanging pleasantries with family and friends.
“His fate remained unknown until Saturday when his family said he had been executed and his body returned with rope marks around his neck indicating he had been hanged,” the The Independent quotes a report from BBC.
