Iran executes two opposition members as judiciary vows 'no leniency'

Iran on Monday executed two members of opposition group the People's Mujahedin (MEK) who were convicted of spying for Israel, with the judiciary chief warning of "no leniency".

Mohammad Masoom Shahi, 38 and also known as Nima, and Hamed Validi, 45, were put to death at dawn in Karaj prison outside Tehran, the MEK's political wing the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said in a statement.

They were both members of the MEK, which is banned in Iran, it added.

The hangings were the latest of detainees regarded as political prisoners by rights groups during the war between the Islamic republic and the United States and Israel.

Since executions resumed in March during the war that erupted on February 28, Iran has executed eight members of the MEK and seven men convicted over protests in January.

"With today's executions, at least 15 political prisoners have been executed since 19 March," said Mahmood Amiry Moghaddam, director of Norway-based rights group Iran Human Rights.

He warned of "further executions of political prisoners and protesters in the coming days and weeks."

"The two members of the MEK join a growing number of heroic members executed this month under the rule of religious dictatorship," the group's leader Maryam Rajavi wrote on X.

"Their only 'crime' was their commitment to freedom and the liberation of their people," she added.

- 'Central demand' -

The judiciary's Mizan Online website said the two men were "members of a spy network linked to Mossad", Israel's intelligence service.

They were convicted of the capital offence of "moharebeh", meaning waging war against God, as well as "collaboration with hostile groups and the Zionist regime", Mizan said.

The NCRI described the accusations against the men as "absurd". It said they were arrested in May 2025, well before the current war or Israel's 12-day war against Iran in June, "subjected to interrogation and torture".

Iranian authorities on March 18 also executed a dual Iranian-Swedish national on charges of spying for Israel.

The latest hangings came as the Iranian judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei -- one of the most high-profile figures to have survived the war so far -- issued a new warning to those who "cooperate with a hostile aggressor".

"Those who engage in assassination and espionage, who carry out other disruptive acts, send images and videos to the enemy, or engage in online activities, propaganda and spread falsehoods in support of the enemy's illegitimate interests -- all fall within the same framework," he said.

"All such cases will be dealt with firmly and without leniency," he said, quoted by Mizan.

Iran is the world's second most prolific executioner after China, according to rights groups based outside the country, which accuse the Islamic republic of using capital punishment as a tool to instil fear throughout society.

Iranian authorities executed at least 1,639 people in 2025, the highest number since 1989, IHR and Paris-based Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) said in a joint report last week.

With a second round of peace talks between Iran and the United States possible in the coming days, Amiry Moghaddam added: "A complete halt to all executions and the release of political prisoners must be a central demand in any agreement with the Islamic republic."