Iran hangs convicted murderer in public – report

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Iran hanged a man for killing a doctor he thought had caused his mother’s death, and a 17-year-old, convicted of killing the country’s strongest man, will be executed tomorrow, Iranian media reported.

The two cases have caught the public’s imagination in a country which has the highest per capital death penalty rate in the world, according to rights groups. Iran dismisses criticism of its justice system, saying it is an effective deterrent.

Sajjad Karimi was convicted of killing Gholamreza Sarabi, a cardiologist, after his mother died. He was hanged in one of the capital Tehran’s main squares, Reuters reports.
“In the presence of the police and the people, the killer of Dr. Sarabi was hanged this morning in Haft-Houz square,” the official IRNA news agency reported.

Seventeen-year-old Alireza was convicted of stabbing to death Rouhollah Dadashi, a two-time champion of Iran’s Strongest Men competition, Haft-e Sobh daily reported. He will be executed on Wednesday if Dadashi’s family chooses not to pardon him.

Iran hanged 22 people convicted of drug trafficking on Monday, the latest mass executions by Iran.

Amnesty International said in April the Islamic state had sharply stepped up its use of public executions to intimidate its citizens. Iran denies this, saying its chosen form of justice leads to less crime.
“Those who disturb the public peace in any way will be executed in public upon the order of the judiciary if the branch finds it expedient,” Fars quoted Fereydoun Amirabadi, a judicial official, as saying.

Murder, adultery, rape, armed robbery, drug trafficking and apostasy — the renouncing of Islam — are all punishable by death under Iran’s Islamic law practised since the 1979 revolution.