Iran executes six over alleged Israel-backed attacks, rights groups allege torture and forced confessions

Tehran [Iran], October 5 (ANI): Iran on Saturday carried out the execution of six men accused of staging deadly attacks in the country's southwest region on behalf of Israel, Fox News reported, citing state media.
The men were said to be involved in a series of assaults on police and security forces in Khorramshahr, a city in oil-rich Khuzestan province, as well as bombings around the area.
Authorities also confirmed a separate hanging in Kurdistan province, where a man convicted of killing a Sunni cleric in 2009, along with other crimes, was executed, Fox News reported.
The executions come weeks after the 12-day war between Iran and Israel in June, which ended with Tehran warning it would retaliate against its "enemies at home and abroad."
The United States Department of War, then the Department of Defence, said that the Strikes obliterated Iran's nuclear capabilities.
Department of War Secretary Pete Hegseth credited President Trump for the military operation resulting in a ceasefire agreement between the two countries.
State television aired footage of one of the men giving details of the attacks, claiming it was the first time the confession had been made public.
However, Kurdish human rights group Hengaw disputed the official version, saying the six were Arab political prisoners detained during the anti-government protests of 2019. According to the group, Iranian authorities linked them to the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz, a separatist faction accused of pipeline bombings in the region. Hengaw alleged the men were tortured and forced into televised confessions under duress.
"The six men were subjected to severe torture and coerced into giving televised "confessions" under duress. They were accused of "transferring foreign currency through an international bank," "carrying out armed attacks," and "links to the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz (ASMLA), " the group wrote.
Amnesty International has said Iran has executed more than 1,000 people so far this year, the highest figure recorded by the organisation in at least 15 years. The rapid pace has drawn comparisons to 1988, when Tehran executed thousands of political prisoners at the close of the Iran-Iraq war.
Independent United Nations experts also criticised Tehran's actions in a recent statement. "With an average of more than nine hangings per day in recent weeks, Iran appears to be conducting executions at an industrial scale that defies all accepted standards of human rights protection," the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said.
The UN body described the surge as "a dramatic escalation that violates international human rights law," urging Iran to halt the wave of hangings and uphold basic standards of justice. (ANI)