An Iranian scientist who provided the U.S. with information about the country's nuclear programme has been hanged for treason, the government has confirmed, according to BBC News.

Shahram Amiri was executed for giving "vital information to the enemy", a judiciary spokesman said.

Amiri disappeared in Saudi Arabia in 2009 and resurfaced a year later in the U.S., where he claimed to have been abducted and interrogated by the CIA.

He subsequently returned to Iran and was given a long prison sentence.

News of his execution emerged on Saturday, when Amiri's mother said the body had been handed over with rope marks around his neck.

On Sunday, August 7 a spokesman for Iranian judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, told reporters: "Through his connection with the United States, Amiri gave vital information about the country to the enemy."