Iran executes Jewish Iranian man in murder case: NGO

Iran on Monday executed a member of the country's Jewish minority who had been convicted of murder, an NGO said, at a time of rising tensions with Israel.

Arvin Ghahremani was hanged in prison in the western city of Kermanshah after being found guilty of a murder during a street fight, said the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) group.

"In the midst of the threats of war with Israel, the Islamic republic executed Arvin Ghahremani, an Iranian Jewish citizen," said IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, adding the legal case had "significant flaws".

"However, in addition to this, Arvin was a Jew, and the institutionalised anti-Semitism in the Islamic republic undoubtedly played a crucial role in the execution of his sentence," Amiry-Moghaddam added.

IHR said that Ghahremani was accused of killing a man during a street fight in Kermanshah two years ago. But it said that, according to his family, he had been attacked with a knife and defended himself using the attacker's weapon.

Ghahremani's mother Sonia Saadati had asked for his life to be spared.

His family urged the victim's relatives to accept blood money under Iran's Islamic law of retribution (qesas), which permits this alternative.

According to IHR, Iran is seeing a surge in executions, with at least 654 people hanged this year including 166 in October alone.

The Mizan Online website of the Iranian judiciary confirmed Ghahremani's execution, saying the victim's family had "refused to give consent" to such a deal.

Mizan, which did not refer to Ghahremani's Jewish faith in its report, said the incident took place in November 2022 due to a financial disagreement. Ghahremani stabbed the victim to death with a knife.

The defendant's lawyers requested a retrial three times, but each request was rejected, it added.

Mizan said that Ghahremani was 21 at the time of the fight. However, IHR said he was 18 then, with other reports saying he was 20 or 21 by the time of his execution.