Documenting Death Sentences in Iran

Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi

When Ebrahim Noroozi attended his first hanging, he left the scene covering his ears to shield them from the roar of the crowds.

In the far distance, the body of Yaghoob Ali Jafari — who in 2010 stabbed a love rival to death in broad daylight — dangled on a rope from a crane.

Police officers had just told the Iranian photographer that he wasn’t allowed to take pictures of one of the first public hangings in Tehran in many years. So Mr. Noroozi, a bearlike man with a soft voice, decided not stay a minute longer.

“I don’t go to executions for fun,” he explained over tea. “As a journalist I don’t want to pass judgment on whether they are good or bad, but the act itself disgusts me.”

Executions are very public events in Iran, with authorities setting up building cranes at the scene of the crime or on the central square of the city where the crime took place. The executions are the highest form of punishment in Iran law, which is based on Islamic jurisprudence, which allows victims of crimes to demand retribution, but also to pardon victims.

In his black-and-white series, Mr. Noroozi clinically takes his audience through the steps of the execution.

The convicted criminal is often brought in around dusk, arriving at the square where a crane or scaffolding with ropes and nooses await him. Families, both of the victim and the convicted cheer and wail, often there are last minute pleas for a pardon. An Islamic judge, always present at the scene, will also officially ask the family of the victim for forgiveness. Usually crowds try to influence such decisions by calling for forgiveness or for the execution to take place.

“At that moment I am only thinking of my camera, angles and light settings,” Mr. Noroozi said. During most executions there would be dozens of photographers, making it hard for him to get the shots he wanted.

Click here to read the full article and view the photo gallery

Source: LENS, Thomas Erdbrink, June 11, 2012. Mr. Erdbrink is the Tehran bureau chief for The New York Times.

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