Iran executes seven for ties with Israel

TEHRAN: Iran executed seven prisoners on Saturday, bringing the number of executions in 2025 to over 1,000 — the highest annual figure reported in at least 15 years, according to Amnesty International.

State-run judiciary outlet Mizan reported that six of those executed were Arab separatists from Khorramshahr, a city in Khuzestan province, who were convicted of carrying out armed attacks and bombings that killed four security personnel.

The seventh, Saman Mohammadi Khiyara, a Kurd, was sentenced for the 2009 killing of pro-government Sunni cleric Mamousta Sheikh al-Islam in Sanandaj.

Iranian authorities claimed that the convicts maintained ties with Israel, an accusation frequently rejected by human rights groups, who argue that Tehran uses such allegations to portray domestic unrest as foreign-backed.

Activists have also raised concerns about Khiyara’s case, noting that he was only 15 or 16 at the time of the murder, arrested at 19, and held for more than a decade before execution.

Rights organizations allege that his conviction relied on confessions extracted under torture — a practice they say is common in Iran’s judicial system.

According to Amnesty International, the surge in executions this year underscores an alarming escalation, with the 2025 tally already surpassing 1,000 — the highest annual total recorded by the group in at least a decade and a half.