Iran secretly executed two Iraqi men last month after convicting them of spying for an Arab country, rights groups said on Thursday, as the Islamic republic intensifies its use of the death penalty as a tool of repression.
The two men, identified as Ali Nader Al Obeidi, 27, and Fazel Sheikh Karim, 29, were executed at Karaj central prison in the final days of fighting between Iran and the US and its ally Israel, the Hengaw Organisation for Human Rights said.
Both from the Iraqi city of Amarah, they had been sentenced to death on espionage charges linked to alleged co-operation with an unspecified Arab state, the Norway-based Hengaw said.
The pair were arrested last year in Karaj, a city west of Tehran, and were held for about 11 months by Iran’s intelligence ministry and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. They were later tried by a Revolutionary Court before being transferred to prison shortly ahead of their executions on April 6.
The executions reportedly took place two days before a fragile ceasefire came into effect in the conflict sparked by US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.
Hengaw also said, citing informed sources, that the men were subjected to torture during detention.
The Iran Human Rights NGO, also based in Norway, said the executions took to eight the number of people put to death in Iran for espionage-related offences since the start of the war with the US and Israel. Six were convicted of spying for Israel.
Iranian state media and judicial authorities have not publicly confirmed the executions. Iraqi officials have also not commented on the case.
Human rights groups have repeatedly criticised Iran's use of espionage charges and Revolutionary Court proceedings, saying they lack transparency and due process.
Amnesty International said on Thursday that it recorded 2,159 executions in Iran last year.
“Authorities intensified their use of the death penalty as a tool of political repression and control, fuelling an unprecedented rise in executions,” it said in posts on X.
The London-based rights group said the pace of executions accelerated after the 12-day war last year.
Iranian officials have repeatedly defended the Islamic republic's handling of national security cases, accusing foreign-based rights groups of using such prosecutions for political purposes.
But Amnesty said Iran increased its use of the death penalty “under the guise of national security” after Israeli military strikes in June 2025. The Abdorrahman Boroumand Centre has recorded 655 executions so far in 2026, 34 since the beginning of May. The Centre has also warned that the actual number of executions may be much higher.
Executions were carried out after “grossly unfair” trials in Revolutionary Courts that “lack independence and operate under the influence of security and intelligence bodies”, Amnesty added.
