After a huge international outcry from human rights activists around the world, Iran has decided to spare the life of a 37-year-old man who miraculously survived a hanging after being convicted of drug-trafficking. Iranian authorities were insisting that the offender should be hanged a second time.
The staff at the mortuary discovered the allegedly deceased offender, known as Alireza M, was still breathing and alive. It is reported that the offender had fallen into a coma. The previous day the offender, who was hanged by crane, had been pronounced dead by a qualified medical practioner.
Iran's method of execution is death by hanging - usually held in public to the sounds of public cheers "Allah Akbar" (God is great). The condemned is blindfolded, wrists and ankles tired, a noose placed around the neck, then a crane lifts the offender in the air until the offender slowly strangles to death.
According to Human Rights Watch, Iran has one of the highest rates of execution in the world with more than 500 cases last year and some 508 executions so far this year.
Iran still executes child offenders, which is against international laws and stardards. One such case was that of Atefeh Rajabi Sahaaleh, a 16-year-old Iranian girl who was hanged in public, after being sentenced to death by a religious Iranian judge, Haji Rezai, for allegedly having committed "acts incompatible with chastity". Atefeh was convicted of having sex with a much older man and also convicted for removing her hijab (head scarf) in court while arguing with the judge. Her trial for "crime against chastity" was based on her admission that she had been repeatedly raped by a 51-year-old ex-revolutionary guard turned taxi driver, Ali Darabi, a married man with children.
It was reported that Atefeh suffered from a mental illness and had no access to legal counsel (her widowered father could not afford to pay nor find a defense lawyer). She was sentenced to death. The judge was reportedly so incensed with Atefeh's "sharp tongue" during the trial that he travelled to Tehran to convince the mullahs of the Supreme Court to uphold the death sentence. Her death sentence was upheld by the mullahs.
Atefeh was seen screaming whilst being dragged by officials from prison to a public street square where people had gathered to watch her execution. She was publicly hanged from a crane in the city of Neka, Iran. The noose being applied by the religious judge himself.
Iran says the death penalty is essential to maintain law and order. Crimes punishable by death in Iran are based on its interpretation of Sharia law. Crimes punishable by death include adultery, apostasy, blasphemy, drug-trafficking (soft and hard drugs), prostitution, homosexuality, sorcery (witchcraft), zina (sexual intercourse between partners not married to each other), individuals converting or preaching Christianity or Judaism, insulting Allah and the prophet Muhammad, corruption on Earth (can virtually mean anything; a legal ‘catch-all term’ that the defendant is an enemy of Allah for a variety of offences), conspiring against the government, consuming alcohol, gambling and plotting to overthrow the Islamic regime.
Executions in Iran remain a sordid public spectacle. The condemned are ritually humiliated by being paraded in public and insulted before being executed.
The Australian Coalition Against Death Penalty (ACADP) strongly opposes the death penalty for all persons, in every nation, in all cases and under every circumstance - unconditionally.
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AUSTRALIAN COALITION AGAINST DEATH PENALTY (ACADP)
http://www.acadp.com
For A Death-Penalty-Free World
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