May 11, 2026 / 8:03 AM EDT / CBS/AFP

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Iranian authorities on Monday hanged a post-graduate student from an elite Tehran university on charges of espionage, the latest in a spate of executions against the backdrop of the war against the United States and Israel.

Erfan Shakourzadeh, 29, was hanged after being convicted for allegedly collaborating with the CIA and Israel's Mossad intelligence service, the Iranian judiciary's Mizan Online website said.

Norway-based rights groups Iran Human Rights and Hengaw said Shakourzadeh was a student at Tehran's prestigious Iran University of Science and Technology and had written a message before his execution rejecting the charges as fabricated.

Describing him as an "elite student," IHR said he was held "in solitary confinement and subjected to torture and forced to give false confessions."

According to Hengaw , Shakourzadeh wrote a note published from prison prior to his execution, saying: "I was arrested on fabricated espionage charges and,…