http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/10/asia/tehran.php
Executions and amputations rise in Iran By Nazila Fathi Thursday, January 10, 2008 TEHRAN: Iran hanged seven men convicted of murder and drug smuggling in different cities, newspapers reported Thursday, bringing the number of publicly disclosed executions in the first two weeks of this year to 23. The daily newspaper Iran reported that two men, identified only by their first names as Mojtaba and Muhammad-Hossein, were hanged for murder Wednesday in the southern city of Jahorm. Three others, convicted of drug trafficking, were hanged in the eastern city of Birjand on Wednesday, the daily Jomhouri Islami reported. The paper added that two others convicted of murder were hanged in the northern city of Tonekabon but did not specify when. The authorities hanged 13 people on Jan. 1 and three others after that. According to a news agency count based on reports in local newspapers, Iran hanged 298 people in 2007, compared with 177 in 2006. If the increase in executions continued at the present rate, the number of hangings this year would surpass 400. Human rights groups in Iran this week expressed shock after the judicial authorities disclosed they had amputated the left feet and right hands of five criminals convicted of armed robbery in the province of Sistan-Baluchistan. A human rights group founded by Shirin Ebadi, the lawyer and Nobel peace laureate, condemned the executions and amputations. "Unfortunately, the violation of human rights in Iran has not only been expanded in some fields, it has also found new dimensions," Ebadi's group, Defenders of Human Rights, said in a statement Wednesday. While amputation punishments are not new in Iran - they were revived when the Islamic penal code was imposed after the 1979 Islamic revolution - the government has rarely publicized such sentences. Moreover, amputation sentences have been for either hands or feet, not both. In the newly disclosed instances, the authorities cut off both the right hand and left foot, making it difficult, if not impossible, for the condemned people to walk even with a cane or crutches. The amputations were carried out in the southern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, near the border with Pakistan, where the authorities have faced increasing insecurity as a result of attacks by minority Sunni insurgents opposed to the Shiite government. "We have constantly protested about the existence of such punishments in our penal code," Ebadi said in an interview. She added: "But the government ignores our protests. These laws are against international conventions Iran has signed, and must change." Among those reported executed on Jan. 1 was a 27-year-old woman and mother of two who had killed her husband when she was 23. The woman, Raheleh Zamani, was hanged at Tehran's Evin prison despite a promise by authorities to postpone her execution by a month. A feminist group was trying to get the consent of the victim's family to save her life. She had been married at the age of 15 and abused by her husband during their marriage, according to the women. Copyright © 2008 The International Herald Tribune | www.iht.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
