Three convicted rapists hanged publicly in Iran – report
Updated: Friday, November 20, 2009
Photographer: WashingtonTV
Executions
13:50GMT—8:50AM/EST
Washington, 20 November (WashingtonTV)—Three men convicted of kidnapping and raping a 17-year-old boy were hanged in public in the central Iranian city of Esfahan, Iran’s Human Rights Activists News Agency reported on Friday.
The three men, who were not identified, were convicted of kidnapping the boy in Esfahan and taking him out of town, where they assaulted him.
The public hanging took place on Thursday, the report said.
According to the Fars news agency, the victim subsequently committed suicide.
The latest hangings bring to at least 258 the number of people executed so far this year in Iran, according to an AFP count.
On Monday, another man convicted of rape was hanged in a public square in the northern province of Mazandaran, the Kayhan newspaper reported.
Amnesty International says that Iran executed at least 346 people in 2008, second only to China, although its population is 18 times smaller.
Murder, rape, armed robbery, drug trafficking, adultery and apostasy are all punishable by death in the Islamic Republic.
Sources: Human Rights Activists News Agency, Fars news agency, Agence France-Presse, Kayhan newspaper, Amnesty International website
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