Iran's hardline judiciary chief on Tuesday urged courts to speed up verdicts linked to the US-Israeli war, including capital punishment, as activists sounded the alarm about surging hangings of convicts seen as political prisoners.
Since the war began on February 28, Iran has hanged seven people in connection with January protests, six convicted of membership of banned opposition group the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK) and a dual Iranian-Swedish citizen on charges of spying for Israel.
Rights groups have warned dozens more are at risk of execution over the January protests or after being arrested on suspicion of helping the enemy during the current war.
"You need to speed up the issuing of sentences for executions and the confiscation of property," judiciary chief Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei told a televised meeting of senior judiciary officials.
Using existing laws on punishing espionage, "it is necessary to continue issuing judicial verdicts for elements and agents of the aggressor enemy with greater speed", he added.
Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, who now lives in exile, said on Telegram that instead of defending Iranians in the face of threats by US President Donald Trump, Tehran’s response "is to accelerate executions, repression and confiscation of the opposition's property".
Two teenagers are among those who have been executed over the January protests, which were suppressed by authorities in a crackdown that left thousands dead, according to rights groups.
Authorities have branded those facing hanging over those protests as "terrorists" who acted on behalf of Israel and the United States, but rights groups have said they were convicted in "grossly unfair" trials.
"In the midst of the ongoing war, the execution of death sentences for protesters and political prisoners through non-transparent and hasty processes is seen as an attempt to instill fear and maintain control over society," said the US-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Center rights group.
With wartime arrests continuing, national police chief Ahmad Reza Radan was quoted by state media as saying that 85 people had been arrested in 25 provinces for operating in an alleged "organized network" sending location information to Iran's enemies.
"The confessions of the accused and the full details of how they collaborated with the enemy will be published soon," he added.
Rights groups accuse Iranian authorities of using torture to extract from prisoners false confessions that are then broadcast during televisions news bulletins.
