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Iran to hang 20

Tehran: Iran is to defy criticism over its human rights record by executing 20 sex offenders and violent criminals, days after a man convicted of adultery was stoned to death. Alireza Jamshidi, a spokesman for the judiciary department, said 20 “thugs convicted of rape, sodomy and assault and battery” would be hanged in the coming days once prosecutors had decided whether to execute them in public. The condemned include at least 15 detained in May during a so-called “public morals” crackdown in poorer neighbourhoods of Tehran and other cities. Iran drew international condemnation following the internet distribution of photos showing some of the arrested being paraded through the streets bearing signs of having suffered severe beatings. The anticipated executions are certain to intensify international pressure on Iran after the U.N.’s human rights high commissioner, Louise Arbour, condemned the stoning of Jafar Kiani in a village 178 km north-west of Tehran. —

Guardian Newspapers Limited 2007

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