Iran Executes Man Despite International Pressure

Iran on Sunday hanged a man said to be affiliated to an exiled opposition group, state media reported, despite international pressure on the Islamic republic to halt the execution.

According to the official IRNA news agency, Gholamreza Khosravi Savadjani was convicted of "waging war against God" (moharebeh) by helping the People's Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran (PMOI).

The announcement of the hanging came just hours after Amnesty International said Savadjani's trial had been unfair.

The rights group said the condemned man's family were informed by prison officials on Saturday that they must go to a jail west of Tehran, sparking fears his execution may be imminent.

Savadjani was until then being held in solitary confinement at Evin Prison in the capital. Death row prisoners are generally transferred to solitary isolation units before their executions take place.

Prior to his death, Amnesty said the execution would be a breach of domestic and international law, as Savadjani -- held since 2008 -- should have benefited from a subsequent law that imposed lighter penalties for the crimes he was convicted of.

Iran says members of the PMOI, founded in the 1960s to oppose the shah, exiled in Iraq should be extradited to face charges  

After the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted the shah, the PMOI took up arms against Iran's clerical rulers and Tehran holds it responsible for murdering thousands of Iranian civilians and officials.