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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 Men Executed at One Prison in One Day

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Public execution Iran
Iran Human Rights (IHR); June 26, 2019: Five men were hanged at the Iranian city of Karaj’s Rajai-Shahr prison this morning.

According to IHR sources, on the early morning of Wednesday, June 26, five prisoners were executed at Rajai-Shahr prison. 

Most of them were sentenced to death for murder charges. 

IHR could identify three of the executed prisoners as Ghorban Soleimani, Hanif Motaharinejad and Majid Hassanzadeh. 

Two others have not been identified by IHR sources yet. However, according to IHR sources, one of the latter two was transferred from Ghelezhesar prison to Rajai-Shahr prison for the execution. 

In sum, 12 Prisoners were transferred to the solitary confinement of Rajai-Shahr prison for execution lately. 

Five were executed and seven of them could win the plaintiffs’ consent or more time to do so. 

In Iran, the life of a person who is convicted to death on murder charges is in the hands of the victim’s family.

According to the Iranian Islamic Penal Code (IPC) murder is punishable by qisas which means “retribution in kind” or retaliation. 

In this way, the State effectively puts the responsibility of the death sentence for murder on the shoulders of the victim’s family. 

In qisas cases, the plaintiff has the possibility to forgive or demand diya (blood money). 

The above-mentioned executions are not announced by Iranian authorities or media so far. 

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, June 26, 2019


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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
Location: Karaj, Alborz Province, Iran
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