Iranian prosecutors have indicted 23 people in the country’s Khuzestan province for allegedly spying for Israel as the government ramps up its security crackdown, Al Jazeera reports, citing Tasnim news agency.

According to Tasnim, public prosecutors in the city of Ahvaz, in the country’s southwest near the Iraqi border, have accused the suspects of engaging in “subversive activities” in the province, including gathering information “for the enemy”, and for spreading propaganda against the Islamic Republic, among others.

The allegations against the suspects could not be immediately verified by independent media or rights advocates.