FEATURED POST

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

Published
Image
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 | Rights Group Demands Strong Response to Public Execution in Maragheh

Published
Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); May 25, 2023: A man sentenced to death for charges of efsad-fil-arz (corruption on earth) was publicly hanged in Maragheh today. 

State media published graphic videos of the public hanging that shows children in the audience.

Warning of the resumption of public executions, Iran Human Rights demands a serious response from the international community to stop these state crimes.

Director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said: “Today’s public execution and its publication by state media shows the true horrifying face of a government that’s trying to prolong its reign with cruelty, humiliation and intimidation of society.”

“The international community cannot tolerate such medieval practices in 2023. Electing the representative of such a government as Chair of the UN Human Rights Council’s Social Forum has severely undermined the Council’s credibility,” he added.

According to Rokna, a man was publicly hanged in Maragheh on 25 May. The unnamed man was sentenced to death for charges of efsad-fil-arz (corruption on earth) through “widespread corruption and prostitution.” He was arrested around eight years ago per the report.

2021 was the first year in over a decade during which no public executions were carried out by the Islamic Republic. This followed 2020 when only one execution was recorded, which was the lowest number since 2016, when Iran Human Rights started its systematic monitoring of executions in Iran. 

We have no indication that the decline in the number of public executions were the result of policy change, but rather a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. 

In 2022, public executions returned to the streets of Iran with two people publicly executed. 

At least five other men have been sentenced to public executions, including Afghan nationals Mohammad Ramez Rashidi and Naeim Hashem Ghotali.

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, May 25, 2023


_____________________________________________________________________




_____________________________________________________________________


FOLLOW US ON:












HELP US KEEP THIS BLOG UP & RUNNING!



"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: Maragheh, East Azerbaijan Province, Iran
Related content:

Most Viewed (Last 7 Days)

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

Published
Image
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. 
Read more

Iran Executes Prisoner in Front of Seven-year-old Son

Published
Image
The Islamic Republic's judiciary has executed one more prisoner amid a surge in the death penalty. Nategh Hosseini was executed at Qazvin Central Prison on Saturday, reportedly in the presence of his seven-year-old son.  According to the Iran Human Rights Organization, Hosseini had been arrested three years ago on charges of alleged murder and subsequently sentenced to death.
Read more

Texas Executes Ramiro Gonzales

Published
Image
Texas executed Ramiro Gonzales on Wednesday despite a stunning reversal from a psychiatrist who helped send him to death row 17 years ago.  Gonzales, 41, was killed by lethal injection as punishment for kidnapping, raping and murdering Bridget Townsend when they were both 18. At the time, Gonzales was struggling with drug addiction. He killed Townsend, his drug dealer’s girlfriend, while trying to steal drugs. He had turned 18 two months before the killing, making him barely old enough to be legally eligible to be sentenced to death.
Read more

Governor, AG push for Indiana’s first execution since 2009

Published
Image
INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana is one of 27 states where state-backed executions are still legal, but no one has been put to death in a Hoosier prison in 15 years. Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb and Attorney General Todd Rokita look to change that. On Wednesday, Rokita’s office filed a motion with the Indiana Supreme Court seeking to set a date for the execution of Joseph Corcoran — a Fort Wayne man found guilty of murdering four people in 1997.
Read more

Oklahoma prepares to kill another man who says he's innocent

Published
Image
Richard Rojem’s death sentence was twice overturned by appellate courts, but his conviction itself has never been fully revisited. RICHARD ROJEM JR. had 20 minutes to address the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board. Wearing a maroon prison uniform, he raised his cuffed right hand and swore to tell the truth, then gave his pitch for why his life should be spared. It would take less than 90 seconds.
Read more

Florida | Jury recommends death penalty for man who killed five women in Florida bank

Published
Image
Judge to decide fate of ex-prison guard trainee Zephen Xaver, who pleaded guilty to 2019 execution-style murders A jury on Wednesday recommended a former prison guard trainee be sentenced to death for his execution-style murders of five women inside a Florida bank five years ago. Jurors voted 9-3 to recommend Zephen Xaver, 27, receive the death penalty for the 23 January 2019 murders at the SunTrust Bank in Sebring, about 85 miles (135km) south-east of Tampa.
Read more