Iran to halt public executions
Azerbaijan, Baku/Trend S.Isayev, T. Jafarov

20 June 2013: Iran will no longer be carrying out public executions, country Gazvin province's prosecutor Jamal Ansari said, Fars news agency reported.

Kermanshah public execution on 20.2.2013

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 forbitten 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.

Courtesy: Trend