Iran executions: Amnesty says at least 60 at risk

Amnesty International condemned what it called an escalation in Iran's use of executions after authorities said Abolfazl Sepahi and Amir-Hossein Safari were hanged on Tuesday over charges linked to anti-government protests.

Iran's judiciary said the two men's death sentences were carried out in the morning. Mehr news agency reported that the hangings took place in a square in Malekshahr, in the central province of Isfahan, with people present.

Amnesty said the executions, following what it called the arbitrary execution of at least three other protesters last week, marked a further escalation in the authorities' use of the death penalty to quash dissent.

The organisation said it feared at least 60 others, including three people arrested as children, remained at risk of execution after being sentenced to death. It said many others were facing prosecution on capital charges linked to the protests.

The judiciary's Mizan Online website said Sepahi and Safari were found guilty of attacking police officers with machetes and knives on January 8. Mizan said they were accused of tying officers to road signs, pulling them on the ground, dousing them with gasoline and setting them on fire.

Mizan said the charges included moharebeh, or waging war against God, and corruption on earth for acts it said severely disrupted public order and security.

UN experts called on Iran on Monday to cancel death penalties given to 12 men, two of whom were executed on July 19. The experts said sentencing 12 people to death in one closed hearing, without clarity on each defendant's individual responsibility, violated fair-trial standards.

The protest movement began in late December over the high cost of living and grew into wider anti-government demonstrations. Rights groups based abroad say thousands were killed in the crackdown, while Iranian authorities reported more than 3,000 deaths and attributed the violence to what they called terrorist acts orchestrated by the United States and Israel.

Amnesty says Iran carries out more executions than any country except China.