The Japan Times - Two Iranian dissidents at 'imminent risk' of execution: activists

The men, Behrouz Ehsani, 69, and Mehdi Hassani, 48, a father of three, were moved without prior notice on Sunday from Evin prison in Tehran to Ghezel Hesar prison in Karaj outside the capital, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the political wing of the People's Mujahedin, said in a statement.

Inmates have in recent times rarely been executed inside Evin, but Ghezel Hesar has in recent years become notorious as a place of execution.

The two men were convicted in September last year, in sentences upheld in January, of the capital crimes of "rebellion" and "corruption on earth" for membership of the People's Mujahedin, collecting classified information and conspiring against national security.

Rights groups have also highlighted the case, with Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) saying that after the transfer they were at risk of "imminent" execution and calling for an "urgent response from the international community to save their lives".

Amnesty International has said they were subjected to "torture and other ill-treatment" in jail and their trial by a Revolutionary Court in Tehran was "grossly unfair".

The hasty prison transfer raised fears "their executions could be implemented at any time," Amnesty said on Monday.

Rights groups are alarmed at a spike in executions in Iran they say is aimed at instilling fear throughout society, with the United Nations saying at least 901 people were executed in 2024 and at least 73 people executed so far in 2025, according to the IHR.

The People's Mujahedin (PMOI, also known by the Persian acronym MEK), initially supported the 1979 revolution that toppled the shah but rapidly fell out with the new leaders under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Blamed for a string of attacks against officials in the early 1980s, it went underground inside Iran and thousands of its members were executed in 1988 mass hangings of prisoners.

The concern over the risk the two men could be executed comes after two senior Iranian judges, Ali Razini and Mohammad Moghisseh, were shot dead on January 18 in Tehran by an assailant who later killed himself, according to the judiciary's Mizan Online website.

The NCRI has accused both men of being implicated in the 1988 prison massacres when they were senior prosecutors. But the group has not commented on their killing.

Meanwhile, six other men convicted of PMOI membership are also a risk of execution after being sentenced to death in an initial verdict in November, according to the group and Amnesty.

T.Sato--JT