Iran hangs 3 for mosque bombing

IRAN has hanged 3 men convicted of a mosque bombing which left 14 people dead in the southern city of Shiraz a year ago, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Mohsen Eslamian, 21, and Ali Asghar Pashtar, 20, both university students and Rouzbeh Yahyazadeh, 32, had been charged last year as "mohareb" (enemies of God) and corrupt on the earth by a revolutionary court in Tehran.

The 3 men were hanged in the city's Adelabad prison after being convicted for the April 2008 bombing of a packed mosque during evening prayers in Shiraz that also wounded more than 200 people.

Iran's judiciary had accused the defendants of having ties with a monarchist opposition group outside Iran and of taking orders from an Iranian US-based CIA agent to try to assassinate a high-ranking official in Iran.

The authorities also accused the group of seeking to overthrow the Islamic regime in Iran.

The latest hangings bring to 68 the number of people executed in Iran this year. Iran executed 246 people in 2008, according to an AFP count.

Iran stepped up its use of the death penalty last year in what it says is a bid to improve security in society.

According to rights group Amnesty International, the Islamic republic applied the death penalty more than any other country apart from China in 2007, executing 335 people.

Capital offences in Iran include murder, rape, armed robbery, drug trafficking, homosexuality, and adultery.

Source: The Mercury, April 10, 2009

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