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U.S. | 'I comfort death row inmates in their final moments - the execution room is like a house of horrors'

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Reverend Jeff Hood, 40, wants to help condemned inmates 'feel human again' and vows to continue his efforts to befriend murderers in spite of death threats against his family A reverend who has made it his mission to comfort death row inmates in their final days has revealed the '"moral torture" his endeavor entails. Reverend Dr. Jeff Hood, 40, lives with his wife and five children in Little Rock, Arkansas. But away from his normal home life, he can suddenly find himself holding the shoulder of a murderer inside an execution chamber, moments away from the end of their life. 

IRAN. FIVE CONVICTED SEX MURDERERS HANGED

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May 12, 2008: Iran hanged five men convicted of burning a young woman alive after raping her, at a prison in the central city of Qom, the government newspaper Iran reported.

The five men identified only as Morteza, 21, Hadi, 24, Javad, 24, Hossein, 19 and Mehdi, 24, were sent to the gallows after being found guilty of the woman's abduction, rape and murder, the paper said.

The victim, who was identified only as Narges, was a newly wed, it added.

"We, together with eight friends, kidnapped and raped her... and then we burned her with petrol while she was still alive to make it impossible to identify her," the paper quoted the two main defendants in the case as saying in a joint confession.

The five men were also found guilty of raping several boys, convictions for which they were sentenced to be thrown off a cliff.

That punishment is prescribed by Iran's Islamic penal code for men raping members of their own sex but there have been few reports of its use.

Five other men have also been convicted and sentenced to death over the woman's murder but have lodged appeals.

Sources: AFP, 12/05/2008
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