Iran has hanged 12 convicted criminals, including nine drug traffickers and three rapists, the latest in a growing number of executions in the Islamic republic, reports said yesterday.
Nine drug traffickers were hanged, one of them in public, in the northeastern city of Bojnourd, Kayhan newspaper reported, without giving the date of the executions.
APPROVAL
This appears to be the first report of a public execution in Iran since judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi ordered in January that there should be no more public executions without his approval.
“One person was hanged in public,” the Kayhan said, without giving further details.
Shahroudi’s decree came after a growing number of public executions in Iran, including the hanging of two convicted murderers in the center of Tehran. It was not clear if he had approved the reported public execution in Bojnourd.
Meanwhile, three criminals convicted of kidnapping and raping at least 11 girls were sent to the gallows in the southwestern city of Ahvaz on Sunday, the Quds newspaper reported.
The hangings bring to at least 86 the number of executions in Iran so far this year, an AFP count shows.
Amnesty International reported that last year Iran executed 317 people.
SHARP INCREASE
The total was a sharp increase on 2006, when 177 executions were carried out, Amnesty International says, and came amid a crackdown on criminals by police aimed at improving security.
Capital offenses in Iran include murder, rape, armed robbery, drug trafficking and adultery.
Human rights groups have accused Iran of making excessive use of the death penalty but Tehran insists it is an effective deterrent that is only carried out after an exhaustive judicial process.
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