Six Iranian Kurds have reportedly been executed despite human right defenders’ calls on Iranian authorities to spare their lives.

The Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) group said the Sunni Muslim men were executed early on March 4 inside Rajai Shahr prison in the city of Karaj, near Tehran.

On March 3, Amnesty International renewed its call not to hang the six inmates, who it said had gone on a hunger strike.

The London-based group said they were sentenced to death after being found guilty of the offense of "enmity against God."

Four of them were accused of killing a senior Sunni Musilm cleric in 2009, but they claim they were arrested several months before the killing.

They were among 33 Sunni Muslim men on death row in mainly Shi'ite Iran.

All of them maintain that they were targeted solely because they practiced or promoted their faith.