Iran’s judiciary executed two men on Monday whom the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK/MKO) has identified as its members, adding to a growing list of opposition figures put to death since the outbreak of the current military conflict with Israel and the United States. Mohammad Masoum Shahi, 38, a technical worker also identified by authorities as Nima Shahi, and Hamed Validi, 45, a civil engineer, were announced dead by the Iranian judiciary on April 20, 2026 following their execution. The two men had reportedly resided in Karaj and Isfahan. The MEK says they were arrested on May 13, 2025 in Tehran, alongside members of their families, and were subjected to interrogation and torture in detention.
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The Iranian judiciary charged both men with espionage on behalf of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service, collaboration with hostile foreign groups, conspiracy against national security, membership in a criminal terrorist organization, propaganda activities against the Islamic Republic and Moharebeh, a charge roughly translated as enmity against God. Authorities alleged that the two had established contact with Mossad officers through social media platforms and traveled to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, where they purportedly received training in terrorist operations. The judiciary further claimed they were apprehended in possession of ten explosive projectiles, ready to be fired, before any attack could be carried out.
The MEK has rejected the charges as fabricated and politically motivated, denying any involvement in espionage on behalf of Israel. The organization states that espionage charges were formally added to the men’s cases only in October 2025, months after their arrest, in what it describes as a retroactive attempt to link them to the ongoing war. Independent verification of either side’s account is not possible.
No information has emerged to confirm that either man received a fair trial, had access to legal counsel of their choosing, or was able to meaningfully challenge the evidence against them. The MEK had previously transmitted the names and details of both men to international human rights bodies and the United Nations prior to their execution.
Their deaths are part of a broader pattern documented by human rights organizations since the start of the current conflict. At least six other MEK members have been executed on similar charges since the war began. Iran’s Judiciary Chief has publicly warned on multiple occasions that those deemed traitors to the homeland face execution, pledging that no leniency would be shown in processing such cases.
The MEK has long been considered a terrorist organization by the Iranian government and some other nations. It was involved in attacks that killed Americans during the Shah-era and for a time was also labeled a terrorist group by the United States. The organization fought for Saddam Hussein’s government in the Iran-Iraq war and has been credibly accused of cultish practices and abuse against its own members. Following an agreement brokered by the United States, the MEK was relocated from its base in Iraq to a compound in Albania by 2016.
Mai Sato, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, has stated that the Islamic Republic is deploying the death penalty as a tool to suppress political opposition under wartime conditions, an assessment that human rights observers say is borne out by the accelerating pace of executions and the circumstances under which they are being carried out. The charges brought against Shahi and Validi, and the process by which they were tried and executed, raise serious questions under international human rights law, including obligations related to fair trial guarantees and the prohibition of torture-derived evidence.