Iran executes two people accused of blasphemy

2023-05-08 09:55:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Iran executes two people accused of blasphemy

Illustrative photo

Iran has executed two men who were sentenced to death for using social media to promote "atheism and insult religion and Islam".

The announcement of the execution of Yousef Mehrdad and Sadrollah Fazeli Zare was announced on May 8 through the judiciary's website, Mizan, and the announcement did not say when these two people were executed.

The cases against Zare and Mehradad date back to 2019, when they were charged. Mehrdad, a father of three young children, was accused of online blasphemy, but also of burning the Koran. Zare is reported to have admitted to insulting the prophet and Islam.

They were executed by hanging. The execution of these two people has been added to the list of capital punishments that Iran has imposed in the last two weeks, as in this country a person has been executed every six hours in the last two weeks, said the organization Iran Human Rights, based in Norway. .

On May 6, a Swedish-Iranian dissident who disappeared from a Turkish airport two years ago was reported to be in custody in Iran. He was executed by the authorities under charges of terrorism.

Habib Chaab, founder and former leader of the separatist group called the Arab Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz (ASMLA), was accused of leading "a terrorist group" and sentenced to death.

ASMLA was blamed for the bomb attack during the military parade in the city of Ahvaz in 2018, when dozens of people were killed and dozens more injured.

The high number of executions, but also ongoing protests against Iran's religious leadership, have led to widespread criticism from human rights groups and United Nations experts who have called on Iran to stop its persecution and harassment of religious minorities. .

According to the Iran Human Rights organization, 205 people have been executed in Iran this year alone, most of them on drug-related charges. More than 40 people, who have been executed in the last two weeks, belonged to the Baloch ethnic minority.

In March, Amnesty International accused Iran of executing members of ethnic minority groups and using execution as a "tool of repression".