Two Men Executed by Hanging in Iran

Two men have been executed in Iran after being sentenced for "burning the Quran" and "insulting the Prophet of Islam," according to the country's judicial authorities, as reported by BBC.

Yousef Mehrad and Sadrollah Fazeli-Zareh managed numerous social media pages dedicated to "atheism and desecration of sacred values," stated the Mizan news agency.

Mehrad's lawyer claimed that he is innocent and that the verdict is unjust. Mizan reported that Yousef Mehrad and Sadrollah Fazeli-Zareh were hanged Monday morning in the central Arak prison.

The two men were arrested in 2020 and were accused of managing a Telegram channel called "Critique of Superstition and Religion," according to the Iranian human rights advocacy news agency (HRANA). There are claims from human rights advocates that they were kept in solitary confinement during the first two months without access to a lawyer.

In 2021, the Arak criminal court found Mehrad and Fazeli-Zareh guilty of blasphemy and sentenced them to death. They were also sentenced to six years in prison for leading factions against national security.

The Supreme Court rejected their appeals against the verdicts and upheld their death sentences at the end of that year, Mizan added, reporting that both had "openly confessed to their crimes."