Iran: A New Wave Of Executions

The war with Iraq is in a sputtering cease-fire, but violence and death have taken no rest in Iran. In a report released last week, Amnesty International cites "indisputable" evidence that Iran has unleashed a new wave of political executions. The London-based human-rights group says it has verified nearly 400 summary executions. The true total, observers fear, probably runs into the thousands.

The report claims the killings began in early August, when alleged supporters of the People's Mujahedin, a dissident Iranian group, were rounded up and hanged in public. Since then, factions vying for control of the regime appear to have increasingly used executions as a political weapon. "Do you think we should greet with sweets those who ((helped attack)) the Islamic Republic?" asked President Seyed Ali Khamene'i in a broadcast earlier this month. "They are condemned to death, and we will execute them."