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.
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