Tehran: Iranian authorities on Saturday executed two men convicted of having ties with the banned People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), escalating a crackdown on dissidents amid the protracted US-Israeli military campaign against the country.
Abolhassan Montazer and Vahid Baniamerian were hanged after the Supreme Court upheld their convictions for PMOI/MEK membership and “armed rebellion through involvement in multiple terrorist acts,” according to the judiciary’s Mizan Online website, AFP reported.
The executions follow the hanging of four other PMOI/MEK members — Mohammad Taghavi, Akbar Daneshvarkar, Babak Alipour, and Pouya Ghobadi — on March 30 and 31.
All six were arrested and sentenced by a Revolutionary Court in late 2024.
PMOI/MEK initially supported the 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the monarchy but split from Tehran’s leadership in the 1980s. Labelled a terrorist organisation by Iran, it has since functioned in exile.
Rights advocates have slammed the surge
in hangings in a country which is ranked as the world’s second-leading executioner after China.
In a recent statement, Amnesty International accused officials of torturing the first four men in custody before transferring them to unknown sites shortly before execution. The group also flagged risks to protesters from January’s mass anti-government protests, in which thousands died.
“It is unconscionable that even as the population is reeling from conflict and mass bereavement amid the ongoing aerial bombardment by Israel and the USA, the authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran continue to weaponize the death penalty to eradicate dissenting voices and further terrify people,” said Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.
The war, triggered by US and Israel’s joint strikes killing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on February 28, has prompted further executions. Iranian-Swedish national Kourush Keyvani, convicted of spying for Israel, was executed, a case that sparked outrage from Stockholm and the EU. On Thursday, another man was hanged for acting on behalf of Israel and the US during protests.
On March 19, three individuals arrested over the uprising were killed.
Amnesty has warned that five young protesters, previously sentenced to death and moved this week from Ghezel Hesar prison to an unidentified location, face imminent execution.