Iran kills two blasphemy defendants.

Iran hanged two people on Monday who had been sentenced to death for blasphemy, according to the judiciary news agency Mizan. Yusef Mehrdad and Sadrullah Fazeli Zare were arrested in May 2020 and sentenced to death in April 2021 for running online “anti-Islam groups and channels”, according to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. They were found to be members of a Telegram channel titled “Critique of Superstition and Religion,” and were denied family visits and phone calls for eight months after their arrest. The executions come days after the execution of a dual Swedish-Iranian national, Habib Chaab, who was convicted for leading a national Arab separatist group accused of attacks in Iran. A joint report issued by the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) and the France-based Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) revealed at least 582 executions were carried out last year, the highest number of executions in the Islamic republic since 2015. The executions come days after the execution of a dual Swedish-Iranian national, Habib