According to the statement by the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) organization, five individuals accused of belonging to banned Sunni Muslim groups were executed in Iran. The executions took place at Vakilabad Prison in the eastern city of Mashhad. Families were not notified beforehand and were not granted a last visit. Four of those executed belonged to the Sunni Muslim minority community in Iran; one was Shia. All five were arrested in 2015 as part of a case dating back a decade and were sentenced to death for the crime of “rebellion” under Iran’s Islamic Penal Code. Three individuals tried in the same case were also executed in December 2020. Among the prisoners, allegations of membership in Salafi groups including the “Iranian Sunnis’ National Solidarity Front” were made. According to IHR, Iran, the country with the second highest number of executions after China, has already executed 245 individuals this year alone. The organization emphasizes that the increase in executions has reached a worrying level.