Iran on Monday executed two men convicted of spying for Israel, the judiciary said, the latest in a wave of hangings over alleged espionage.

Since the start of the war with Israel and the United States in February, Tehran has ramped up executions, with many of the convicts accused of spying for Israeli intelligence.

“Omid Behzad and Pouria Safvat were hanged this morning for transmitting the coordinates of sensitive military and security sites to Mossad agents,” said Mizan, the media outlet for Iran’s judiciary, referring to Israel’s foreign intelligence service.

It did not specify when the pair were arrested or when they went on trial, but said they were convicted of “espionage and collaboration with the Zionist regime”.

“They helped the intelligence services achieve their objectives by providing them with information on military and security centres during the war,” Mizan added.

The number of executions in Iran has risen since the start of the war, which broke out on February 28 with massive US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran’s supreme leader.

Iran is the world’s second-most prolific executioner after China, according to rights groups including Amnesty International.

The authorities executed at least 1,639 people last year, a record high since 1989, according to Iran Human Rights, an NGO based in Norway, and Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM), which is headquartered in Paris.

On Tuesday, Amnesty denounced what it said was the “escalation” in executions after Iran announced the hanging of two men found guilty of taking part in anti-government protests during the winter.

Authorities removed Thursday scores of foreign nationals who had sought protection from anti-migrant groups at a church centre in Durban in a days-long standoff, highlighting xenophobic tensions in South Africa.

Campaigns by small citizen-led groups against undocumented migrants have picked up in recent months, but without reaching the level of violence seen in waves of anti-foreigner attacks over previous years.

Police herded about 400 migrants from countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Somalia onto buses and removed them from the complex in the east coast city where some had been camped for days.

Local anti-immigrant campaigners cheered and chanted “They must go!” as the foreign nationals — including women and children — were driven to a government refugee centre.

Some pressed identity documents to bus windows to show they had the proper papers to be in South Africa.

Several told AFP they had left their homes in fear after anti-immigrant locals went door-to-door to tell undocumented foreigners to leave by June 30.

Their ultimatum has no legal weight and is not backed by the authorities.

There were some scuffles during the evacuation, with one man breaking free and chased by locals before police intervened.

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Anti-immigrant figurehead Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma told reporters that her group, March and March, opposed violence but wanted all undocumented foreign nationals to leave.

The group blames migrants for social ills such as high unemployment and crime, but analysts say this is scapegoating.

Meanwhile, Ghana said Thursday it planned to evacuate more than 800 of its citizens from South Africa after a viral video showing the alleged assault of a Ghanaian man triggered outrage.

South Africa has faced recurring waves of xenophobic violence since 2008, when dozens of migrants were killed and thousands displaced.

There were similar flare-ups in 2015 and 2021, often sparked by economic frustrations and political mobilisation around anti-immigrant rhetoric.

The latest spike comes as political parties seek support ahead of local government elections in six months.

One of the migrants at the Durban centre, Robert Ikobia, told AFP he had left the DRC when he was 12 years old to escape war.

“I have the papers to be here. But every time there has been a xenophobic upheaval, I have been a victim,” he said.

“In 2012, I was shot in the head and nearly died. A few years later, I was stabbed by a mob. I fled a war in my country, yet I cannot find peace in South Africa,” he said.

Ivory Coast on Wednesday dissolved the authority responsible for organising elections following sustained opposition criticism over its handling of polls, but did not say what would replace it.

The decision, taken at a cabinet meeting, comes after an October presidential election in which veteran leader Alassane Ouattara was re-elected for a contested fourth term and several heavyweight opposition figures were barred.

“In view of the reservations expressed about this institution (the Independent Electoral Commission, or CEI), as well as the criticism it has faced, the Council of Ministers has decided to dissolve it,” said government spokesman and Communications Minister Amadou Coulibaly.

“I cannot tell you at this stage what this new mechanism will be, which will certainly be discussed and put in place at the government level,” he said.

“The aim,” he said, was “to ensure, in a lasting way, the organisation of peaceful elections by creating greater trust and reassuring all Ivorians and the political class.”

Former prime minister Pascal Affi N’Guessan (2000-2003), one of those whose presidential candidacy was rejected last year, called on the government on his X account to “open a dialogue with political and civil society organisations to rebuild the electoral system, in the name of peace and stability”.

Contacted by AFP, the main opposition force, the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI) of Tidjane Thiam, and the African Peoples’ Party-Ivory Coast (PPA-CI) of former president Laurent Gbagbo, did not comment.

Both Gbagbo and Thiam were prevented from taking part in the election over a criminal conviction and nationality issues, respectively.

The opposition has regularly and strongly denounced the lack of independence of the electoral commission, which is tasked with organising polls, ensuring the strict application of the electoral code and overseeing the electoral roll.