Iran: Two men executed for desecrating the Koran

Two men were executed by hanging Monday in Iran for blasphemy, sparking consternation from human rights NGOs, who denounced "shocking" executions and "medieval" practices.

Sadrollah Fazeli Zare and Youssef Mehrdad, convicted of "insulting the Prophet Muhammad and other blasphemies, including burning the Koran," were hanged Monday morning, according to the website of the judicial authority's Mizan Online news agency. Their execution comes in a context of increasing application of the death penalty in Iran, denounce NGOs, according to which the year 2022 was marked by the highest number of executions since 2015.

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The two men were accused of leading groups on social media "promoting atheism and insulting sacred figures of Islam," according to Mizan. In March 2021, one of the defendants admitted to posting insults on a Telegram account, the agency added. Both men were hanged in Arak prison in central Iran.

'Middle Ages'

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The Islamic Republic has once again demonstrated its medieval nature by executing two people who had expressed their opinion," said Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of the Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR). These executions should mark "a turning point" for countries committed to freedom of expression in their relations with the Islamic Republic, he said.

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The international community must make it clear that the use of the death penalty to suppress the expression of opinion will not be tolerated," he said. Amnesty International called the executions "shocking" and added to Iran's "pariah status." "They were hanged for posts on social networks," the NGO said, denouncing a "grotesque assault on the rights to life and freedom of religion."

According to IHR, at least 208 people have been executed since the beginning of the year. In 2022, 582 people suffered the death penalty, up 75% from the previous year, IHR and another organization, Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM), based in Paris, said in April.

Islamic law (Sharia) applied in Iran allows for the death penalty on blasphemy charges, but executions on this grounds have been relatively rare in recent years, with the vast majority of those executed on drug or murder charges.

'Crushing protests'

Iran is the second country with the highest number of executions after China, according to several NGOs, including Amnesty International. For Amnesty, these new executions "come in the context of a sharp increase in the use of the death penalty by the Iranian authorities in recent weeks".

This increase in executions coincides with the protest movement triggered in September in Iran after the death of a young Iranian Kurd, Mahsa Amini, who died after being arrested by the morality police for violating the strict dress code requiring women to wear the veil.

'Terrorising the population'

Protests have been violently repressed, and at least 537 people have been killed by Iranian security forces since September, according to IHR. Four men were executed in direct connection with the protest movement.

Meanwhile, an Iranian-Swedish dissident, Habib Chaab, convicted of leading an Arab separatist group in the west of the country and sentenced to death for "terrorism", was executed on Saturday. The European Union denounced an "inhumane sanction".

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A German citizen, Jamshid Sharmahd, was sentenced to death in connection with a mosque attack in 2008. "Without urgent international action, the Iranian authorities will continue to use the death penalty to torment and terrorize the population, crush protests and all forms of dissent," Amnesty warned.