An Iranian dissident has been executed by hanging for “enmity against God” despite protests by human rights groups who claimed that the man received an unfair trial.
The execution of Gholamreza Khosravi Savajani was announced Sunday on the website of Tehran’s Revolutionary Prosecutor’s office, according to Ali Safavi, a spokesman for the National Council of Resistance of Iran. Savajani had been sentenced to death in 2010 after it was alleged that he donated money to the People’s Mujahideen Organization of Iran (PMOI), a group that seeks to overthrow the Islamic Republic, according to Amnesty International.
Savajani was reportedly held for over 40 months in solitary confinement in various detention centers since he was arrested in 2008 for his links to the group also known as Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK). Both his detention and sentence have been strongly condemned by human rights groups.
“Yet again Iranian authorities are about to execute a man who did not even receive a fair trial in total disregard of both international law and the Iranian law,” Hassiba Hadj Saharoui, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa said in a statement Saturday.
“The Iranian regime’s decision to execute Mr. Gholamreza Khosravi for sympathizing with the MEK demonstrates the mullahs’ infinite paranoia about the popular base and appeal of the Iranian Resistance within Iran,” Ali Safavi, a spokesman for the National Council of Resistance of Iran — an Iranian opposition movement — told FoxNews.com Saturday evening.
“It is time for the international community in general and the Obama administration in particular to break their disgraceful silence over the barbaric killing spree we have witnessed in Iran, especially after the so-called moderate Hassan Rouhani took office,” Safavi said.
Iran claims that its judicial system is fair and accuses the West of using accusations of human rights abuses as a way to undermine it.
Savanjani’s death comes as Iranian media reported last week the hanging of the first of four men sentenced to death for a financial scam that tainted the government of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Fox News’ Eric Shawn and Adam Shaw contributed to this report.