Iran executes two members of exiled group for carrying out attacks
"The death sentences of two operational members of the... terrorist group were carried out this morning after legal procedures and confirmation by the supreme court," the judiciary's Mizan Online website reported.
Mehdi Hasani and Behrouz Ehsani-Eslamloo were found guilty of manufacturing improvised launchers and mortars and launching attacks on civilians and infrastructure, the judiciary said, adding that they "aimed to disrupt social order and endanger the safety of innocent civilians".
"The terrorists, in co-ordination with MEK leaders, had set up a team house in Tehran, where they built launchers and hand-held mortars in line with the group's goals, fired projectiles heedlessly at citizens, homes, service and administrative facilities, educational and charity centres, and also carried out propaganda and information-gathering activities in support of the MEK," the report said.
The defendants were indicted with "moharebeh", an Islamic term meaning waging war against God, destroying public property and "membership in a terrorist organisation with the aim of disrupting national security".
The report did not state when the attacks took place and whether it was related to last month's Israel-Iran war, during which Tehran accused opposition groups, such as MEK, for providing support to Israel from inside the country.
Since the war, Iran has cracked down on suspected Mossad affiliates or members.
Both suspects were described as long-time members of the MEK, a group designated as a terrorist group by Iran. The MEK was a leftist-Islamist group that staged bombing campaigns against the shah's government and US targets in the 1970s but ultimately fell out with the other factions of the 1979 Islamic revolution.
The group has since been exiled. It was also listed as a terrorist organisation by the US and the European Union until 2021.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The National
13 minutes ago
- The National
Trump ally says Israeli military will 'take Gaza down like we did Tokyo and Berlin'
US Senator Lindsey Graham said on Sunday that Israel is preparing to intensify its military campaign in Gaza, comparing the strategy to Allied operations on Tokyo and Berlin at the end of Second World War. 'What we're talking about today is a change in strategy. I think President (Donald) Trump has come to believe, and I certainly come to believe there's no way you're going to negotiate an end of this war with Hamas,' Mr Graham told NBC in an interview. 'Hamas is a terrorist organisation who is chartered to destroy the State of Israel. They're religious Nazis. They hold Israeli hostages.' Mr Graham, from South Carolina, said that Israel has concluded that dismantling Hamas is the only way to ensure its security. 'If they're going to do in Gaza what we did in Tokyo and Berlin – take the place by force, then start over again, presenting a better future for the Palestinians, hopefully having the Arabs take over the West Bank and Gaza,' he said. 'I think going forward … you're going to see a change in tactics, a full military effort by Israel to take Gaza down,' he said. On Thursday, Mr Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, said Hamas' latest response to ceasefire proposals showed a 'lack of desire' to reach a truce. Mr Witkoff said Washington will look at 'alternative options,' without elaborating. Mr Trump told reporters on Sunday that Israel would have to make a decision on next steps in Gaza, adding that he did not know what would happen after moves by Israel to pull out of ceasefire and hostage-release negotiations with the Hamas militant group. Mr Trump underscored the importance of securing the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, saying they had suddenly 'hardened' up on the issue. 'They don't want to give them back, and so Israel is going to have to make a decision,' he said the start of a meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at his golf property in Turnberry, Scotland.
The National
an hour ago
- The National
Syria expected to hold parliamentary election in September, official says
Syria is expected to hold its first parliamentary election under the new government in September, the head of the electoral process said. Voting for the People's Assembly should take place from September 15-20, the head of Syria's High Elections Committee Mohamed Taha Al Ahmad said. President Ahmad Al Shara"emphasised the necessity of proceeding with the electoral process in all Syrian governorates, rejecting division, which is denounced by all Syrians," he said. All those who "sided with the criminals and supported them" and individuals "who advocate for division, sectarianism and factionalism" will be excluded from running in the vote. He added that the number of parliamentary seats will increase from 150 to 210, with the president appointing 70 members. This decision is likely to come under intense scrutiny following President Al Shara's decision to appoint two brothers, Maher and Hazem, to top government positions. Mr Ahmad said the international community and independent election monitors will be invited to oversee the poll. The vote will be the first after the fall of Bashar Al Assad's regime. Mr Al Shara, leader of a former Al Qaeda offshoot, came to power in Syria after guerrilla fighters he led brought down Assad in December, after more than 13 years of civil war. The announcement came as the country was gripped by a series of violent incidents in recent weeks. A Syrian committee investigating sectarian violence in the Alawite heartland said on Tuesday it had identified 298 suspects implicated in serious violations during bloodshed that left at least 1,426 members of the religious minority dead in March. The findings come after fresh violence involving the country's Druze community, raising further questions over the new government's ability to manage sectarian tensions.
The National
2 hours ago
- The National
After months of deadly blockade, Israeli voices demanding that aid enters Gaza grow louder
Israel's decision to implement daily 'humanitarian pauses' in Gaza has triggered a familiar and unsettling cycle in Israeli public discourse. Each time the military allows even a modest respite for the besieged strip, fierce domestic backlash follows. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir described the decision as a 'spit in the face of our soldiers' and a 'surrender to Hamas's deceitful campaign'. Eylon Levy, a social media personality and former spokesman in the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wrote on X: 'Let's be clear what just happened here. International pressure on Israel encouraged Hamas to reject a ceasefire and get a 'humanitarian pause' instead – without giving up a single hostage.' Regardless, the plan appears to be in place and Israel's military said on Sunday that the pauses will be in effect daily in Al Mawasi, Deir Al Balah, and Gaza city, from 10am (0700 GMT) to 8pm (1700 GMT) until further notice. UN agencies, including UNRWA, are expected to monitor food distribution. In the lead-up to the announcement, many in Israel deflected blame for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, pointing fingers at the UN or Hamas. This persistent refusal to acknowledge the depth of suffering in Gaza has drawn criticism, even from former supporters of Israel abroad. Meanwhile, some critics within the country have begun labelling the siege itself as a military failure. For the first time, however, a mainstream Israeli news channel broke rank. After many months of not showing the suffering of Gazan civilians, Channel 12 this week aired a report that showed crowds of desperate people scrambling for food at aid distribution sites. A Hebrew-speaking contributor spoke about calling Gazans who told him of 'nothing going into their mouths for entire days'. Israeli commentator Shaiel Ben-Ephraim said he could not 'even begin to explain how big' the report was. 'For years, Channel 12 and mainstream Israeli news would cover Palestinian suffering occasionally. Then after October 7, they just stopped. No one wanted to see it. That played a massive role in the dehumanisation of Palestinians and facilitation of genocide,' he wrote in a post on X. In the days since, a growing number of Israelis, many of them staunch defenders and not from its activist left wing, made similar arguments. Commentator Haviv Rettig Gur, who had rejected international warnings of catastrophic hunger in Gaza, acknowledged on a recent podcast: 'We are very close to real, actual, desperate hunger in Gaza … It's hard to convince Israelis of that because literally everything said to them for 22 months on this topic has been a fiction … We need to wake them up.' Fears about Gaza's humanitarian situation entering mainstream Israeli discourse is a major development for a country in which 64.5 per cent of the public has so far been 'not concerned' about it, according to a poll by a major think tank in May. In the same month, another poll found that 82 per cent of respondents supported the expulsion of Palestinians from the strip. It remains to be seen whether this willingness to acknowledge Palestinian civilian suffering will last. Polling shows that Israelis have been against the war for some time, but the vast majority of the opposition is based on concern for hostages in the strip, the safety of soldiers and anger that Mr Netanyahu is continuing the campaign for his political survival. How Israeli society and politics react to the daily 'pauses' ahead will give important signs.
