Rights groups claim that Iran hanged a Kurdish man to death on Friday, raising questions about the nation's shockingly high execution record this year.
The rights groups Hengaw and Iran Human Rights (IHR), both based in Norway, reported in separate statements that Mohayyedin Ebrahimi, 43, had been hung at the Urmia prison in northwest Iran before dawn.
According to the organisations, five other people were executed on Friday morning in Urmia on drug-related charges.
Ebrahimi was arrested and handed the death penalty in 2018 after being shot in the leg during a brawl in 2017.
He was accused of participating in the Iranian Kurdistan Democratic Party, an outlawed group that has been fighting violently for the Iranian region that is home to the Kurdish people.
Ebrahimi denied the charges, saying he had just recently been hired as a porter to bring goods from Iraq.
IHR and Hengaw referred to him as a "political prisoner" who had been forced to make confessions while detained.
The execution was criticised by Amnesty International because it came after "a highly unfair trial that relied on "confessions" acquired via torture."
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the head of Iran, "must stop using the death penalty as a tool of political repression and proclaim a moratorium on executions," the London-based rights group stated.
After being sent to solitary confinement and given permission to visit with his family, there were concerns that Ebrahimi might shortly be executed.
IHR stated that a demonstration took place late on Thursday outside the doors of the Urmia jail and that his son was taken into custody as it became clear that his execution would be about to take place.
Hengaw said that when his sentence was delayed, Ebrahimi's family was called to arrange for the pickup of his body after first being notified that he was being sent to a different jail.
Just prior to his death, he had sent a letter to IHR pleading for aid to spare his life and describing the allegations as "false and fabricated."
Another prisoner found guilty of killing a police officer was hung on Thursday at the Khorramabad Prison in western Iran, reports the official IRNA news agency.
Concern over Iran's high execution rate is growing as the killings take place. Iran has moreover faced severe international condemnation for its repression of a protest movement that got underway in September.
Iran has killed four individuals in retaliation for the demonstrations. On September 16, Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd who had been arrested for allegedly violating the strict dress code for women in her nation, passed away.