August 2, 2007
Tehran - Seven people were publicly hanged on
Wednesday in Khorassan province in north-eastern
Iran, state news agency IRNA reported, while a
number of others, including two Kurdish journalists,
are scheduled to die. A local police spokesman told
IRNA that the seven were convicted of rape,
kidnapping and robbery and hanged in two groups in
the provincial capital Mashad.
According to local rules, convicts are hanged in the
same city and district where they have committed
their crimes.
Another execution is scheduled to be held Thursday
in Tehran where the murderer of an Iranian judge
will be hanged.
Tehran's chief prosecutor Saaid Mortazavi had said
16 criminals were executed last week, and 17 more
death sentences were issued against convicts on
similar charges.
Two Iranian Kurdish journalists were to be executed
in Kurdistan province in north-western Iran on
charges of "moharebeh," an Islamic term meaning
enmity with God and considered a capital crime, IRNA
had on Tuesday quoted judiciary spokesman Ali-Reza
Jamshidi as saying.
The two journalists, identified by international
rights groups as Adnan Hassanpour and Abdolvahed
Botimar, were sentenced earlier this month by a
revolutionary court in Kurdistan.
The exact charges brought against the two were not
clear, but they reportedly had contacts with foreign
and Iranian opposition media.
Under Iranian Islamic law, murder, rape, armed
robbery, drug- trafficking of quantities in excess
of five kilos and apostasy are punishable by death. |
Seven people were publicly hanged on Wednesday in
Iran. Photo ISNA
Kurdish journalists
Adnan Hassanpur (L) and Hiwa Botimar sentenced to death
by the Iranian Islamic regime |
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