Iran secretly executed two Iraqi men last month after convicting them of spying for an Arab country, a Norway-based rights group said on Thursday.
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.
Hengaw said the men – both from the Iraqi city of Amarah – had been sentenced to death on espionage charges linked to alleged co-operation with an unspecified Arab state. They were arrested last year in Karaj, a city west of Tehran, and later tried by a Revolutionary Court.
Hengaw said they were held for about 11 months by Iran’s intelligence ministry and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps before being transferred to prison shortly before their executions on April 6.
The rights group also said, citing informed sources, that the men were subjected to torture during detention.
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.
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.
