AFP, London, Feb 3, 2010  – Britain voiced concern Wednesday at reports that nine people arrested in Iran after disputed June elections may be executed, saying it was a new bid to ’intimidate’ Opposition supporters.

’I am deeply disturbed by reports suggesting that nine more of those arrested after June’s disputed elections may be executed,’ said junior foreign minister Ivan Lewis.

’This appears to be yet another attempt by the regime to intimidate the Opposition movement. Calls by senior Iranian figures for use of the death penalty to quell unrest are deplorable,’ he said.

He was speaking after Tehran’s prosecutor said that an Iranian appeals court has still to decide on the executions of the nine, arrested during anti-government protests for seeking to topple the Islamic regime.

The British minister added: ’It is particularly concerning that these people are facing death by hanging after being sentenced in TV show trials that denied defendants their basic rights.

’I urge the Iranian government to meet the human rights obligations to which it is committed. Once again the eyes of the world are on the Iranian authorities and the manner in which they treat their own people.’

Last week Iran executed two people from the monarchist group Tondar (the Kingdom Assembly of Iran) on charges of seeking to topple the regime.

The hangings of Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani, 37, and Arash Rahmani Pour, 20, were the first reported executions of dissidents tried since a wave of protests broke out following the disputed re-election of hardline President Mahmoud Ahamdinejad on June 12.

Iranian authorities arrested an estimated 4,000 people, including journalists and reformist politicians, in a massive crackdown in the weeks following the presidential election.