Iran Human Rights (Jul 23, 2018): Two prisoners were executed in public on the charge of rape and murder.
According to Tasnim news agency, on the morning of Sunday, July 22, two prisoners were executed in public in Mashhad. The prisoners were sentenced to death on the charge of rape and murder of two children in separate cases.
According to Mizan Online news agency, one of the prisoners is identified as Ali Asghar Ashrafi, son of Mohammad, born in 1976. He was convicted of raping and murdering an eight-year-old Afghan girl on March 27, 2018. The other prisoner was identified as Sajjad Rashidi, son of Asad, born in 1991. He was convicted of raping and murdering a 10-year-old boy on April 25, 2018.
It should be noted that the United Nations have repeatedly criticized public executions in Iran. The Secretary-General of the United Nations, as well as the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, had earlier asked Iranian authorities to stop public executions.
According to Iran Human Rights (IHR)'s annual report on the death penalty, 31 prisoners were hanged in public in 2017.
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Download the PDF file for the Iran Human Rights annual report on the death penalty