A senior Iranian cleric on Friday welcomed the execution of two dissidents and death sentences against nine others, DPA reported.
"There is no room for Islamic lenience these days," Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the head of the senate-like Guardian Council, said at Friday prayers in Tehran "If we do so, then a worse future would be ahead of us."
The ayatollah, a fierce supporter of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, called on the head of the judiciary, Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani, not to relent against those guilty of mohareb, or emnity with God, and thanked him for Thursday's two executions.
Two opposition protestors, reportedly from monarchist groups, were hanged Thursday for conspiring to topple Iran's Islamic establishment. Nine more received death sentences.
All the condemned were arrested during rallies against Ahmadinejad after June's presidential election.
The opposition accuses the government of manipulating the election to ensure Ahmadinejad's re-election.