In Iran, a man has been hanged in broad daylight in front of a large crowd, human rights activists report. They accused the Iranian government of “medieval practices”.
The execution of the man convicted of the capital crime “corruption on earth” took place in the city of Maragha in the province of East Azerbaijan, the Norway-based organization Iran Human Rights (IHR) said on Thursday. Noose around the neck Images on Iranian news portals show a gathering of apparently hundreds of people watching the execution behind a security barrier. The man is also shown with the noose around his neck. The convict was arrested about five years ago and then found guilty of offenses related to his relationships with women. What exactly the alleged crimes consisted of was not known. “The international community must not condone such medieval practices,” said IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam. The execution shows the “true face of a government that ensures its survival with cruelty, humiliation and the intimidation of society”. Only China executes more people According to human rights organizations, more people are executed in Iran every year than in any other country in the world – with exception of China. However, public executions are rare, most taking place in prisons. The only two public executions in 2022 were carried out at dawn with almost no audience. Intimidation of society Recently, the number of executions in Iran had increased. Human rights activists see this as a measure to intimidate society after the anti-government protests began in autumn 2022. The protests were sparked by the death of the young Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in the custody of the vice squad. She was arrested for allegedly violating the strict Islamic headscarf rule. According to the human rights organization Amnesty International, seven men have already been hanged in cases related to the protests, and seven others are at risk of the same fate. According to IHR, 278 people have already been executed in Iran since the beginning of the year.
