Iran has executed tens of thousands of suspected government opponents in the last 16 years and kept large numbers of political prisoners languishing in jail, Amnesty International said Wednesday.

Opposition activists have been targeted for attack over the past 18 months and even Iranian dissidents who fled abroad are not safe, the London-based rights group said in 17- page report.

Despite Iran's refusal to allow human rights investigators into the country, Tehran has not been able to hide its "appalling human rights record,"Amnesty said.

Over the past 15 years, scores of dissidents living outside Iran have been "assassinated in circumstances suggesting they may have been extrajudicially executed by Iranian government agents," it said.

The report cites cases of long-term political prisoners held without trial, and suspected executions of government opponents both inside and outside Iran by government agents...

Four leaders of religious minority groups _ three Christians and a Sunni Muslim _ were found dead recently in suspicious circumstances, believed killed by Iranian government agents, the report said...

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