Iran hangs two murder convicts in latest executions

Iranian authorities have hanged two men convicted of murder in the southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province in the latest executions carried out by the Islamic Republic, the judiciary said on Monday.

Elias Raisi was found guilty of murder in a family dispute in 2020, and Ayoub Rigi of a killing using a military weapon over "personal differences" with the victim, said the judiciary's Mizan Online news website.

They were put to death on Saturday after the victims' families refused to grant them clemency under Islamic law, the chief prosecutor in the provincial capital Zahedan, Mehdi Shamsabadi, was quoted as saying.

The latest executions came two days after the judiciary confirmed three people had been hanged for rape and armed robbery in the southern city of Shiraz.

Earlier this month, Iran's judiciary executed two men in connection with the protests over the 16 September death of Iranian-Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, 22, after her arrest for an alleged breach of the country's strict dress code for women. Amini's Kurdish first name can be spelt "Zhina" or "Jina".

Majidreza Rahnavard, 23, was hanged in public on 12 December after being sentenced by a court in Mashhad for killing two members of the security forces with a knife.

Four days earlier, Mohsen Shekari, also 23, had been executed for wounding a member of the security forces.

Trigger warning: this video contains graphic execution images

The judiciary has said that so far 11 people have been handed death sentences over the protests, of whom two have been executed and two have been allowed retrials.

Campaigners say about a dozen other defendants have been charged with offences that could see them receive the death penalty.

According to London-based rights group Amnesty International, Iran is second only to China in its use of the death penalty, with at least 314 people executed in 2021.