Iran has executed two members of the outlawed Mujahideen-e-Khalq opposition group for targeting civilian infrastructure with homemade projectiles amid criticism from Amnesty International over a "grossly unfair" trial.
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See subscription optionsMehdi Hassani and Behrouz Ehsani-Eslamloo, "operational elements" of the MEK, were sentenced to death in a verdict upheld by the Supreme Court, judiciary news outlet Mizan reported on Sunday.
"The terrorists, in co-ordination with MEK leaders, had set up a team house in Tehran, where they built launchers and hand-held mortars in line with the group's goals, fired projectiles heedlessly at citizens, homes, service and administrative facilities, educational and charity centres, and also carried out propaganda and information-gathering activities in support of the MEK," the report said.
Maryam Rajavi, who leads the National Council of Resistance of Iran of which the MEK is the main force, paid tribute to the pair.
"Honour to these steadfast Mojahedin who, after three years of unwavering resistance under torture, pressure, and threats, fulfilled their solemn pledge to God and the people with pride and dignity," Rajavi said.
The defendants were indicted with "moharebeh" - an Islamic term meaning waging war against God - destroying public property and "membership in a terrorist organisation with the aim of disrupting national security".
Amnesty International said Ehsani-Eslamloo and Hassani were arrested in 2022 and maintained their innocence during a trial which the rights group called "grossly unfair and marred by allegations of torture and forced confessions".
"According to informed sources, agents interrogated them without lawyers present and subjected them to torture and other ill-treatment, including beatings and prolonged solitary confinement, to extract self-incriminating statements," it said in January.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the number of people executed in Iran rose to at least 901 in 2024, the highest number since 2015.
The MEK, known in English as People's Mujahideen Organisation of Iran, was a powerful leftist-Islamist group that staged bombing campaigns against the shah's government and US targets in the 1970s but ultimately fell out with the other factions of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Since then, the MEK has opposed the Islamic Republic and its leadership in exile has been Paris-based.
The group was listed as a terrorist organisation by the US and the European Union until 2012.
Australian Associated Press
