Dubai: On Saturday, Iran executed six death-row prisoners accused of orchestrating attacks in the country's oil-rich southwestern region on behalf of Israel. These executions mark the latest in a surge believed to be the highest in decades.

These events come in the aftermath of the 12-day conflict between Iran and Israel in June, which concluded with Tehran promising to target its adversaries both domestically and abroad. Nevertheless, activists caution that Iran frequently relies on forced confessions and secretive trials in death penalty cases, especially those linked to Israel.

According to Iranian authorities, the men were involved in killing police officers and security personnel and were behind bombings around Khorramshahr, located in Iran’s restive Khuzestan province. While their names have not been widely recognized, Iranian state television broadcast footage of one prisoner describing the attacks, marking the first public disclosure of such details.

Khuzestan’s Arab population has long voiced grievances over discrimination by Iran’s central government. Insurgent groups in the area have targeted oil pipelines in an ongoing low-level insurgency. The region has also experienced unrest alongside nationwide protests that have swept Iran in recent years.

Separately, Iran executed another inmate accused of murdering a Sunni cleric in 2009 in Kurdistan province, alongside other offenses.

Since the protests and June conflict, Iran has accelerated executions at a pace unseen since 1988, when thousands were executed at the conclusion of the Iran-Iraq war.

The Oslo-based Iran Human Rights and the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran estimate that over 1,000 executions have occurred in 2025 alone, though the true figure may be higher due to incomplete reporting by Iranian authorities.

United Nations independent human rights experts have also condemned Iran’s execution practices.

AP