The Iranian authorities have executed two more political prisoners, bringing to 707 the number of executions in the country since the beginning of the year, according to a human rights group.
Ali Saber Motlaq and Kamran Rezaei were hanged on November 30 in Rasht’s Lakan Prison and Shiraz Central Prison, respectively, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) group said.
Motlaq, 62, was arrested in the 1980s on charges of membership in the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK) and murdering an Islamic Republic official.
He was later released and left the country.
After returning to Iran in 2019, he was rearrested and sentenced to death in the same murder case, despite a lack of evidence.
IHR said that Rezaei was arrested in November 2019 during nationwide protests sparked by an abrupt fuel price increase, and was sentenced to death over the alleged killing of a member of the paramilitary Basij force.
An informed source told the group that Rezaei was forced to admit under torture to killing the Basiji with a machete.
IHR Director Mahmood Amiry Moghaddam urged the international community to “break their silence on the arbitrary execution of more than three people per day by the Islamic Republic.”
“The international community’s silence on executions is considered a green light by the Islamic Republic,” he added.
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