Two men convicted of blasphemy in Iran have been hanged in rare death sentences for the crime, as executions surge across the Islamic Republic.
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Iran remains one of the world's top executioners, having put to death at least 203 prisoners since the start of this year alone, according to the Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights.
But carrying out executions for blasphemy remains rare, as previous cases saw the sentences reduced by authorities.
The two men executed on Monday, Yousef Mehrad and Sadrollah Fazeli Zare, died at Arak Prison in central Iran.
They had been arrested in May 2020, accused of being involved in a channel on the Telegram message app called Critique of Superstition and Religion, according to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom.
Both men faced months of solitary confinement and could not contact their families, the commission said.
The Mizan news agency of Iran's judiciary confirmed the executions, describing the two men as having insulted Islam's Prophet Mohammed and promoted atheism.
Mizan also accused them of burning a Koran, Islam's holy book, though it wasn't clear whether the men allegedly did that or such imagery was shared in the Telegram channel.
The streak of executions, including members of ethnic minority groups in Iran, comes as months-long protests over the September death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after her arrest by the country's morality police have cooled.
Already, at least four people charged over alleged crimes from the demonstrations have been put to death.
The protests, which reportedly saw more than 500 people killed and 19,000 others arrested, marked one of the biggest challenges to Iran's theocracy since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Australian Associated Press
