Iran hanged two males Monday convicted of blasphemy, authorities mentioned, finishing up uncommon demise sentences for the crime as executions surge throughout the Islamic Republic following months of unrest.

Iran stays one of many world’s high executioners, having put to demise a minimum of 203 prisoners because the begin of this 12 months alone, in accordance with the Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights. However finishing up executions for blasphemy stays uncommon, as earlier instances noticed the sentences lowered by authorities.

The 2 males executed, Yousef Mehrad and Sadrollah Fazeli Zare, died at Arak Jail in central Iran. They’d been arrested in Could 2020, accused of being concerned in a channel on the Telegram message app known as “Critique of Superstition and Faith,” in accordance with the US Fee on Worldwide Non secular Freedom. Each males confronted months of solitary confinement and couldn’t contact their households, the fee mentioned.

The Mizan information company of Iran’s judiciary confirmed the executions, describing the 2 males as having insulted Islam’s Prophet Muhammad and promoted atheism.

Mizan additionally accused them of burning a Quran, Islam’s holy e-book, although it wasn’t clear whether or not the boys allegedly did that or such imagery was shared within the Telegram channel.

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, who leads Iran Human Rights, decried the executions as exposing the “medieval nature” of Iran’s theocracy.

“The worldwide neighborhood should present with its response that executions for expressing an opinion is insupportable,” he mentioned in an announcement. “The refusal of the worldwide neighborhood to react decisively is a inexperienced mild for the Iranian authorities and all their like-minded folks all over the world.”

It wasn’t instantly clear when Iran carried out its final execution for blasphemy. Different nations within the Center East, like Saudi Arabia, additionally permit for demise sentences to be imposed for blasphemy.

The streak of executions, together with members of ethnic minority teams in Iran, comes as monthslong protests over the September demise of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after her arrest by the nation’s morality police have cooled.

Already, a minimum of 4 folks charged over alleged crimes from the demonstrations have been put to demise. The protests, which reportedly noticed over 500 folks killed and 19,000 others arrested, marked one of many greatest challenges to Iran’s theocracy because the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

In 2022, Iran executed a minimum of 582 folks, up from 333 folks in 2021, in accordance with Iran Human Rights. Amnesty Worldwide’s most-recent report on executions put Iran because the world’s second-largest executioner, behind solely China, the place hundreds are believed to be put to demise a 12 months.