Lakan prison, Rasht: Iraqi citizen Ayoub Mohammad Nabil executed on espionage charge

The Islamic Republic secretly executed Ayoub Mohammad Nabil, a 28-year-old Iraqi citizen, in Lakan prison in Rasht at dawn on Sunday 11 October 2026. The Hengaw human rights organisation reported the execution, and Iran Human Rights confirmed it on Thursday 15 October. According to Hengaw, as of the publication of its report, state media and media close to the judiciary had published no news of the execution.

Branch 1 of the Rasht Revolutionary Court had sentenced him to death on a charge of "moharebeh" through "espionage for proxy groups backed by Saudi Arabia". Ayoub Mohammad Nabil, from the Iraqi city of Haditha, had rejected all of these charges.

Arrest and torture

According to Hengaw, intelligence forces arrested him in Fuman on 26 August 2025 and held him for about five months in the detention centre of the Rasht intelligence department before transferring him to Lakan prison. The organisation says he was under severe physical and psychological torture during his detention, and that his security case was built on his Sunni faith, his appearance and his teaching the Quran to local children.

Coinciding with the fighting in Yemen

According to Hengaw's sources, Ayoub Mohammad Nabil was moved to solitary confinement on the Thursday before the execution, at the same time as fighting escalated between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, allies of the Islamic Republic. The organisation's sources link the carrying out of the sentence to this escalation of fighting.

This execution follows the wave of political and security executions in Iran; a few days ago the Islamic Republic also executed Ali-Sina Mostafavi, a mountaineer and political prisoner from Kerman on security charges.

The Islamic Republic secretly executed a 28-year-old Iraqi citizen in Lakan prison in Rasht on a charge of spying for Saudi Arabia.