TEHRAN: Iran hanged two men convicted in the wake of the unrest that erupted after last year’s disputed election, the ISNA news agency reported on Thursday.
The two men executed at dawn were charged with trying to overthrow the government. The June presidential election was followed by huge opposition rallies, plunging Iran into its deepest internal crisis since the 1979 revolution.
The opposition says the vote was rigged to secure Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election as the president. The authorities deny it.
Eight people were killed in clashes between opposition supporters and security forces on Dec. 27. “Following the riots and anti-revolutionary measures in recent months, particularly on the day of Ashura, a Tehran Islamic Revolutionary Court branch considered the cases of a number of accused and handed down the execution sentences against 11 of those,” ISNA said.
“The sentences against two of these people ... were carried out today at dawn and the accused were hanged,” ISNA said, adding the sentences had been confirmed by an appeal court.
It named them as Mohammad Reza Alizamani and Arash Rahmanipour. The lawyer for Rahmanipour, 19, said he was detained before the election. She said the charges were political and the verdict “illegal and unjust.”
“An execution with this speed and rush has only one explanation ... the government is trying to prevent the expansion of the current (opposition) movement through the spread of fear and intimidation,” lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh said.
In August, the state broadcaster IRIB said Rahmanipour had confessed to links with Western countries and had a mission to plant bombs at election time.
The cases of the other nine are at the appeal stage. ISNA said the charges included membership of two anti-revolutionary groups, including a pro-monarchy association.
