Four people were sentenced to death on Wednesday by Iran's judiciary for allegedly cooperating with the Israeli intelligence service and committing kidnappings, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.
Tehran has long accused arch-enemy Israel of carrying out covert operations on its soil. It has lately accused Israeli and Western intelligence services of plotting a civil war in the country, now gripped by some of the biggest anti-government protests since its 1979 revolution.
Mehr named the four accused and, referring to Israel, said they were "sentenced to death for the crime of cooperating with the intelligence services of the Zionist regime and for kidnapping".
It added: "With guidance from the Zionist intelligence service, this network of thugs was stealing and destroying private and public property, kidnapping people, and obtaining fake confessions."
Mehr said the accused had been arrested by the Revolutionary Guards and the Ministry of Intelligence.
Three other people were handed prison sentences of between five and 10 years for allegedly committing crimes such as acting against national security, aiding in kidnapping, and possessing illegal weapons, it said.
French lawmakers on Monday condemned Iran’s crackdown on anti-government demonstrators and called on European governments to put more pressure on Iran to investigate the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who died in police custody in Tehran.
Legislators in France’s National Assembly unanimously approved a nonbinding resolution supporting the protesters, by a vote of 149-0. Activists also planned a demonstration Monday outside the Assembly, the lower but most powerful house of parliament in France.
The resolution calls on European governments to step up pressure on Iran to uphold its international promises and to investigate what happened to Amini, who was arrested for violating the country’s strict dress code. Protests over her death have morphed into the most serious challenge to Iran’s establishment in decades.
The measure strongly condemns what French lawmakers call “the brutal and generalized repression by the security forces ... toward non-violent demonstrators, which constitutes a blatant and unacceptable violation of the right to demonstrate and freedom of expression."
Rights monitors say hundreds have been killed and more than 18,000 people detained since the anti-government protests started in September.
The French resolution also denounces laws and rules restricting the rights of women and minorities in Iran. It calls for the release of seven French citizens detained in Iran, too.
