Iranian nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri has been executed, according to local media reports.
There has been no official announcement, but Amiri’s mother reportedly confirmed her son’s death in response to weekend media coverage.
She claimed her son had been hanged on Wednesday.
The 39-year-old had been a controversial figure for some time.
Some reports called him a whistleblower who had left Iran for the United States in 2009 and divulged information on Iran’s nuclear program.
Other reports alleged that Amiri had been kidnapped by the CIA in Saudi Arabia, taken to the U.S. and forced to talk.
The United States repeatedly rejected allegations that the nuclear scientist had been held against his will.
Amiri was allowed to return to Iran in 2010, where he was initially celebrated as a national hero.
He was later arrested and sentenced to ten years in prison for espionage.
