Iran to halt public executions, official says
Iran will no longer be carrying out public executions, country
Gazvin province's prosecutor Jamal Ansari said, Fars news agency
reported.
Ansari named three reasons - human rights issue, international
policy and Iran's judiciary system's policy - for Iran to halt the
public executions.
"The judiciary system of Iran will no longer permit public
executions due to the mentioned three reasons," Ansari said.
He noted that previously Iran only carried out executions in public
in specific circumstances, and it was all recorded on video and
spread in the media outlets.
From now on, according to Ansari, the judiciary system has
forbidden for public executions to be carried out.
Within the last month 20 people, charged of trafficking and
selling drugs, were executed in Tehran.
According to foreign media reports, some 488 people were executed
in Iran from October 2011 to October 2012. Some 33 percent of the
executed were accused of smuggling drugs, while 13 percent - of
rape.
The UN and Amnesty International have repeatedly demanded Iran to
abolish the death penalty. Human rights activists claim that more
people are executed in Iran than the official statistics
indicates.
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