PARIS, France (AFP) — Iran on Monday hanged two men who were members of a banned opposition group and described by rights groups as political prisoners, as Tehran kept up executions against the backdrop of the war against the US and Israel.

Akbar Daneshvarkar, 60, and Mohammad Taghavi-Sangdehi, 59, were hanged at dawn in the notorious Gehzel Hesar prison in the Tehran satellite city of Karaj for membership of the outlawed People’s Mujahedin of Iran, also known as Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK).

They were executed “after confirmation and final approval of the sentence by the Supreme Court,” the judiciary’s Mizan Online website said.

The MEK opposed the rule of the shah and initially supported the 1979 Islamic revolution but rapidly fell out with the new clerical leadership in the 1980s. It is now based in exile and is designated as a terrorist organization by Tehran.

The group’s political wing, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), in a statement confirmed that the two were members of the MEK.

Its leader, Maryam Rajavi, said “the desperate clerical regime, in fear of the people’s uprising, vainly attempts to delay the explosion of the people’s anger for a short while by executing the bravest children of Iran.”

Severe internal repression

Campaign groups have long expressed fear that there will be a new surge in executions as........

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