Four men convicted of raiding a private party in Iran’s central Isfahan province and abducting and raping several women were publicly hanged Wednesday [Oct. 12, 2011] before a crowd of thousands, Iranian media reported.
The men, aged 20 to 25, were part of a gang of 15 that burst into the party, being held in a villa in the town of Khomeni Shahr in May, wielding knives and clubs, Fars news agency said.
After overpowering and tying up male guests, the gang kidnapped the women and took them to a nearby villa, where they were raped, ISNA news agency said.
The hanged men all had prior police records for consuming alcohol, which is banned in Iran, weapons offences and kidnapping.
Five other members of the gang were sentenced to 28 years in prison and 74 lashes for complicity in the raid, while charges against two recently arrested suspects were under review, provincial judiciary chief Gholam Reza Ansari said, according to Fars.
Four other suspects are at large.
The hangings brought to 223 the number of executions in Iran so far this year, according to an AFP tally based on media and official reports.
Human Rights Watch tallied 388 execution cases in Iran in 2010, while Amnesty International put the figure at 252, ranking the Islamic republic second only to China in the number of people put to death last year.
Tehran says the death penalty is essential to maintain law and order, and that it is applied only after exhaustive judicial proceedings.
Murder, rape, armed robbery, drug trafficking, homosexuality and adultery are among the crimes punishable by death in Iran.
Source: Agence France-Presse, October 12, 2011
Four men were publicly hanged in central Iran early this morning
Iran Human Rights, October 12: Four men were hanged publicly in the town of Khomeinishahr, in central Iran, early this morning.
According to the state run Iranian news agency ISNA the men were identified as Abbas (24), Rajab Ali (23), Asghar (20) and Mansour (25) and were convicted of rape. The executions took place in the "Behesht" (paradise) park of Khomeinishahr this morning.
All the individuals were arrested in connection with a rape of several women in a garden outside Khomeinishahr earlier this summer. All together 15 people have been accused in this case and four of them have not been arrested yet.
Quoting the prosecutor of Isfahan, hamshahrionline wrote: "The individuals who were hanged in public today, were also sentenced to 74 lashes. The flogging sentences were implemented in the prison yesterday".
Iran Human Rights (IHR) strongly condemned today’s public executions in Khomeinishahr. Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the spokesperson of IHR said: "These barbaric executions are used as a tool to spread fear among the people". He continued: "So far more than 340 people have been executed in Iran according the official sources in 2011 and we have observed a dramatic increase in the number of public executions. We urge the international community to condemn these executions and put sustainable pressure on the Iranian authorities". Amiry-Moghaddam added: "Through inhumane punishments Iranian authorities promote a culture of brutality and are responsible for the increasing violence in the Iranian society".
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