Executions of Yousef Mehrad and Sadrollah Fazeli-Zare

On May 8th, the Islamic Republic executed Yousef Mehrad and Sadrollah Fazeli-Zare for "burning the Quran" and "insulting the Prophet." Both men were said to be running social media accounts "dedicated to atheism and desecration of sanctities." According to HRANA, the two men were arrested in 2020 for a telegram channel entitled "Criticims of Superstition and Religion," along with five others who were later released on bail. The two men were sentenced to execution, but it has been reported that they only confessed to their crimes under torture.

 Having been held in the Arak Prison, in Markazi province, since May 2020, the Deputy Prosecutor of the province has been quoted as saying, "I will execute you myself for insulting the prophet." Mehrad and Fazeli-Zare's death sentences were later upheld in July 2021.

The May 8th executions came after the two men were placed in solitary confinement for months and could not have contact with their families. Despite the large number of executions carried out yearly by the Islamic Republic, the number executed on blasphemy charges are rare. And although there are at least a couple of articles based on which death sentences can be given for blasphemy, the Islamic penal code also qualifies that blasphemy charges can generally be reduced to a penalty of up to seventy-four lashes. This suggests that even within the confines of the Islamic Republic's medieval penal code, the killing of Yousef Mehrad and Sadrollah Fazeli-Zare can be considered illegal and examples of extrajudicial executions.