Iran executes Koran desecrators

TEHRAN - Iran yesterday executed two people convicted over desecrating the Koran and insulting the Prophet Mohammad, the judiciary said.

Sadrollah Fazeli Zare and Youssef Mehrdad were hanged in the morning, having previously been convicted over “insulting

Prophet Mohammad and... burning the Koran”, the judiciary’s Mizan Online website reported.

In March 2021, one of the accused had purportedly confessed during a court session to publishing content on his social media account admitting to the insults committed, Mizan added.

The pair were also accused of administering social media channels and groups that promoted atheism and insulted Islamic “sanctities”, Mizan noted.

Iran executes more people yearly than any other nation except China, according to rights groups including Amnesty International.

The country hanged 75% more people in 2022 than the previous year, two rights groups said in April.

At least 582 people were executed in Iran last year, the highest number of executions in the country since 2015 and well above the 333 recorded in 2021, the Norway-based group Iran Human Rights and Paris-based Together Against the Death Penalty said in a joint report.

On Saturday, Iran carried out the execution of Swedish-Iranian dissident Habib Chaab for “terrorism”, drawing a sharp rebuke from Sweden and the European Union.

“The death penalty is an inhumane and irreversible punishment and Sweden, together with the rest of the EU, condemns its application in all circumstances,” Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom wrote on Twitter.

Meanwhile, German-Iranian Jamshid Sharmahd 68 is condemned to death by Iran, which does not recognise dual nationality, in connection with a deadly mosque bombing in 2008.