Iranian authorities on Monday executed two men in public over the killing of a police officer during an armed robbery in central Iran, according to the judiciary.

“The death sentence of two armed robbers was carried out this morning in the city of Khomein” in the central Markazi province, the judiciary’s Mizan Online reported, citing the local prosecutor.

According to the report, the sentence was carried out in public on Monday morning.

Iran, which performs death sentences by hanging, rarely executes convicts in public.

The two convicts shot dead a police officer almost four years ago while attempting to flee after clashes with law enforcement, Mizan reported.

Iran carries out the highest number of executions annually after China, according to rights groups including Amnesty International. The number of executions was 2023 is the highest recorded since 2015 and marked a 48% increase from 2022 and a 172% increase from 2021, Amnesty said.

According to Human Rights Watch, Iran executed at least 87 people last month, including 29 in one day.

“The Iranian authorities are carrying out an egregious execution spree while trumpeting their recent presidential elections as evidence of genuine change,” said Nahid Naghshbandi, acting Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch.

The Islamic republic uses capital punishment for major crimes including murder and drug trafficking, as well as rape and sexual assault cases.

AT&T is lowering curtain on its foray into the entertainment business, selling its majority stake in satellite TV provider DirecTV to private equity firm TPG Partners for $7.6 billion. 

The deal, announced Monday, comes more than a decade after AT&T agreed to buy DirecTV for $48.5 billion, an acquisition that was designed to give the telecom giant a larger base of video subscribers and help it compete against rivals.

But since then, the subscription TV business has been hit by defections from “cord cutters,” or customers who have canceled their cable or satellite TV subscriptions in favor of streaming services such as Netflix. In 2021, following the loss of millions of customers, AT&T sold a 30% stake of the business to TPG in a deal valued at $16.2 billion.

“This sale allows AT&T to continue to focus on being the leading wireless 5G and fiber connectivity company in America,” AT&T said in a statement on Monday.

AT&T’s sale of its remaining 70% stake in DirecTV is expected to close in the second half of 2025.

Separately, DirecTV said it is acquiring satellite-TV provider Dish from EchoStar, a deal that also includes Sling TV, for $1 plus the assumption of roughly $9.8 billion in debt.

Shares of AT&T rose slightly before the market opened on Monday.