Iranian Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi and six major human rights organisations called Wednesday on the United Nations and the international community to denounce a wave of executions in Iran.
At least 86 people have been executed since the start of 2011, according to information received by the six organisations, which include Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
"The Iranian authorities have shown they are no longer content to repress those contesting the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by arresting and convicting them," Ebadi said in a statement issued by the groups.
"They have shown they will now resort to execution," the exiled Nobel peace laureate said.
To put an end to this killing spree, other nations should demand that Iran immediately end these executions and respect its obligations under international law, the statement said.
The statement came as Iran's regime called for a rally in Tehran for Friday to express "hatred" against the opposition movement, as its two key leaders launched fresh anti-government tirades despite demands they be hanged.
Wednesday's call for the mass rally came as clashes erupted at a funeral attended by thousands in Tehran of a student killed in anti-government protests of Monday.
Iranian opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi have been in the firing line since they called a rally on Monday in support of Arab uprisings but which quickly turned into anti-government demonstrations and ended in clashes that left two people dead and several wounded.
Both are under de facto house arrest and Karoubi's son, Hossein, said Wednesday, in a statement on his father's Sahamnews.org website, that "security forces are currently occupying my house... after breaking into the building...they are searching my and my family's personal belongings."
Iran's prosecutor general Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie has warned that action would be taken against Mousavi and Karroubi.
"The heads of seditions are the people who should be punished for their criminal acts and God willing actions in this regard are being taken," Mohseni Ejeie said, according to Fars news agency.
Iranian officials accuse arch-foes the United States, Britain and Israel of influencing the opposition chiefs.
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