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The Iranian government hanged five Kurdish activists, including a woman, on Sunday morning in the Evin prison in Tehran in what appeared to be an effort to intimidate protesters from marking the anniversary of last year’s huge anti-government rallies after the June 12 election.

Sunday’s executions brought the total for the weekend to 11. Six men convicted of drug smuggling were hanged on Saturday. For the past few years, Iran has had the highest number of government executions after China, according to Amnesty International.

Although the authorities announced that the five people executed Sunday had been found guilty of carrying out fatal bomb attacks, the executions were widely seen as intended to discourage people from rallying against the government on June 12. That will be the first anniversary of the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which many people believe was rigged.

At least four other activists, two Kurds and two protesters, were executed before another planned rally on Feb. 11. An additional 11 anti-government protesters have been sentenced to death. Human rights activists have expressed alarm at the executions and worry that more might be planned because those on Sunday, in February and in late 2009 were carried out hastily and without having been endorsed by Iran’s Supreme Court.

“The executions show that this government resorts to any kind of terror and violence to put down any challenge to its authority,”... >>>