India, July 24 -- Independent UN human rights investigators on Thursday called for Iran to immediately halt the execution of 10 men who took part in a protest in the central city of Isfahan earlier this year, warning that some of their relatives have already been called for final visits.

The appeal by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran follows the 19 July execution of two other men in the same case - Erfan Esfandiari, reportedly 18-years-old, and Gol Mohammad Mohammadi, a 23-year-old Afghan national - which it strongly condemned.

The development is unfolding against a backdrop of longstanding UN concern over the surge in the use of the death penalty in Iran and ongoing hostilities in the region which began in lat...