Iran executes two dissidents and sentences to death nine more

The predawn executions of Arash Rahmanipour and Mohammed Reza Alizamani were the first since tens of thousands of ordinary Iranians poured onto the streets to challenge the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's president.

Grappling with the country's greatest political crisis since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, Iran's hardliners further indicated their unwillingness to brook dissent after the regime announced that death sentences had been passed on nine other government critics.

Yesterday's hangings mark a new watershed following months of intimidation and harassment designed to crush the spirit of Iran's Green Movement, the reformist campaign led by Mr Ahmadinejad's election challengers, Mirhossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi.

Last August a mass show trial of reformists accused of trying to orchestrate a revolution was staged in a Tehran courtroom.

Among the senior figures paraded on state television were the two hanged men, convicted, prosecutors said yesterday, for being "enemies of God".

"The two who were hanged today belonged to the monarchist group Tondar," Abbas Dolatabadi, Tehran's prosecutor general, told state television. "During their trials they confessed to obtaining explosives and planning to assassinate officials."


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