An Iranian nuclear scientist who had defected to the US was executed in Iran, according to reports in the local press on Saturday.

Shahram Amiri was a nuclear researcher at Malek Ashtar University of Technology and worked for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization. He is said to have had in-depth knowledge of Iran’s rogue nuclear program.

His family said he was executed on August 3 and that they had been allowed to visit him the day before.

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Amiri disappeared briefly while on pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia in 2009 and resurfaced in Washington some time later.

While in the US, he recorded and posted a series of bizarre videos, first claiming he had been kidnapped by US and Saudi agents and forced to reveal sensitive information while “under intense psychological pressure,” and in a second video, saying he was living in Arizona and wanted to study there. In a later post, he said he wanted to go home.

According to some reports, his family was harassed and tortured in a bid to force him to return to Iran, which he did in 2010 to a hero’s welcome, before disappearing again.

It later became clear that he had been arrested and given a long prison sentence. He was reportedly held under very difficult conditions.