Iranian authorities have executed two members of the banned opposition organization “Mujahideen-e-Khalq“ (MEK), accused of attacking civilian infrastructure with homemade weapons. The news was reported on Sunday by the judicial news agency “Mizan“.
Mehdi Hassani and Behrouz Ehsani-Eslamlou, designated by authorities as “operational elements“ of the MEK, were sentenced to death in September 2024. Iran's Supreme Court upheld the convictions, rejecting requests for a new trial.
According to Mizan, the convicts had built improvised weapons, including hand-held mortars, and carried out attacks on residential areas, schools, social and administrative buildings.
The international human rights organization Amnesty International strongly condemned the executions, describing the trial as "grossly unfair." In its January report, the organization said the two were interrogated without access to a lawyer, subjected to beatings, solitary confinement and forced to make confessions.
The two were accused of "moharebeh" - a term in Islamic law denoting “war against God“, as well as participation in a terrorist organization and destruction of state property with the aim of destabilizing national security.
Maryam Rajavi, leader of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, of which the MEK is a major element, paid tribute to the executed, calling them “steadfast mujahedeen“ who had withstood “three years of resistance against torture and pressure“.
The MEK organization emerged in the 1970s as a radical movement that carried out attacks against the Shah's regime and American targets. After the Islamic Revolution in 1979, it opposed the new government and went into exile. Today, the MEK is headquartered in Paris and was on the US and EU terrorist list until 2012.
According to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, at least 901 people were executed in Iran in 2024 — the highest number since 2015.