On Saturday, October 4 local time, the Iranian judiciary executed six fighters accused of participating in armed attacks in the southwestern province of Khuzestan.
According to a statement released by the Iranian judicial website "Mizan", these six condemned prisoners, known as "separatist terrorists", were executed at dawn of the same day. They have carried out armed attacks and bombings in Khuzestan province in recent years, threatening local security.
The statement mentioned that these six people had participated in launching a series of violent actions against security forces between 2018 and 2019. They were directly involved in the killing of four security personnel, including two policemen and two members of the Basij militia, and planned to manufacture explosive devices and attack public facilities, including blowing up a gas station in Khorramshahr.
The Iranian judicial system did not immediately disclose the names of the six and the details of the trial, but stressed that their actions seriously endangered national security and social stability.The country has long attributed armed ethnic minorities or separatist organizations in the territory to the manipulation of foreign powers, in this incident, Iran has not directly named Israel, but continued to link "terrorist activities" with the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad.
On the same day, another Kurdish militant, Saman Mohammadi, was hanged. He was arrested in 2013 and charged with the crime of "Moharebeh", involving the assassination of the Friday prayer imam in Sanandaj, West Azerbaijan province in 2009, and involving a number of armed robberies, kidnappings and killings of conscripts.
The Shadow War with Israel
The intensive execution occurred only a few days after a large-scale military conflict broke out between Iran and Israel. In June this year, Israel launched a 12-day air strike against Iran, targeting military command centers, nuclear scientists and civilian areas. The United States also attacked Iran's nuclear facilities during the conflict.
According to Amnesty International, Israeli airstrikes killed at least 1,100 Iranians in response, and Iran fired a large number of missiles and drones in retaliation.
Since the end of that brief and intense war, the internal security situation in Iran has continued to be tense, increasing the scrutiny of so-called “spies”, “subversors” and “foreign agents.”
Less than a week ago, Iran also publicly executed Bahman Choobiasl, who officially called him “one of Iran’s most important Israeli spies.”
According to Mizan's report, Chubiasr was convicted of "corruption on Earth" for meeting with senior officials of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad and participating in "sensitive telecommunications projects".
Iran's Supreme Court rejected his appeal and upheld the death sentence.
According to joint statistics from Oslo’s “Iran Human Rights Organization” and Washington’s “Abdul Rahman Boerumand Human Rights Center”, the country has executed more than thousands of death sentences by 2025 so far, while actual numbers may be higher because Iranian officials have not published all of the information on death sentences.