Movie footage falsely shared as Israeli spy execution in Iran
- Published on July 15, 2025 at 10:29
- Updated on July 15, 2025 at 10:44
- 3 min read
- By Masroor GILANI, AFP Pakistan
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"Iran has hanged Mossad agents," reads a Urdu-language post shared June 30, 2025 on X, referring to Israel's intelligence agency.
A video included in the post shows a blindfolded man with his hands tied and a noose around his neck attached to a crane. Two masked men remove the stool under him.
"But in Pakistan, Indian terrorist commander Kulbhushan Jadhav is alive and well," the post adds, mentioning an alleged Indian spy who has been on death row for years (archived link).
Similar posts also surfaced on TikTok after a US-proposed ceasefire ended the Iran-Israel war, which killed more than 1,000 people in Iran and at least 28 people in Israel.
Hostilities erupted after Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign against Iran on June 13, targeting nuclear sites and killing several senior military officials and nuclear scientists (archived link).
Tehran responded with waves of drone and missile fire, and the demonstration of Israel's deep intelligence penetration prompted a major hunt for spies (archived link).
According to Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights, six men have been hanged on charges of spying for Israel since the start of the conflict, dozens more on other charges and more than 1,000 arrested during or after the conflict on charges related to the war.
A reverse image search of keyframes on Google led to longer footage published on YouTube on April 16, 2024 with the title, "Hanging the actor backstage" (archived link).
A part of the clip at the end that had been omitted in the circulating video shows the actor slightly raising his head after the scene.
Another version of the clip was shared on Instagram on January 3, 2025 with the caption, "Behind the scenes of the execution of the Bi Badan film" (archived link).
The entertainment database IMDB says the Farsi-language film -- released in 2024 -- is an adaptation of a famous criminal case in the 1990s "which went back and forth several times until the execution stage" (archived link).
The execution scene can be seen from a different angle between the movie's four to five-minute marks, an AFP journalist found.
AFP has debunked more false claims related to the Iran-Israel war here.
Updated 10th paragraph to say the actor is seen raising his head after the sceneJuly 15, 2025 Updated 10th paragraph to say the actor is seen raising his head after the scene
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