An Iranian man has been hanged for a second time by hardliners, months after his first execution was halted half a minute later, according to a human rights group.
Ahmad Alizadeh was arrested in October 2018 on a murder charge, which he denied, and was sentenced to death, according to the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR), which monitors executions in Iran.
The 26-year-old’s death sentence was originally scheduled to be carried out on April 27 at Ghezel Hesar prison in Karaj, outside Tehran.
But just 28 seconds after the hanging, he was taken from the gallows when the victim’s family suddenly shouted ‘forgiveness’.
CPR was performed on his ‘lifeless’ body and he was successfully resuscitated, with the first execution called off, IHR said.
Ahmad Alizadeh was arrested in October 2018 on murder charges, which he denied, and was sentenced to death
A blindfolded man convicted of armed robbery, kidnapping and murder of two police officers awaits public hanging in Tehran, Iran, on April 16, 2011.
Under Iranian Sharia law, a victim’s family can ask for blood money to spare the perpetrator’s life, or also decide to forgive.
However, in many cases, the family of the convicted person cannot pay the stipulated amount and the execution goes ahead, activists said.
Alizadeh continued to be threatened with the death penalty because there was no agreement with the victim’s family for blood money.
He was executed again on Wednesday morning at Ghezel Hesar prison, the IHR said. In the infamous prison, executions are usually carried out in groups on the same day.
“Ahmad Alizadeh, a talented student, was hanged for the second time on charges of murder, which he denied and claimed to have confessed under torture,” said IHL director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, who named the “Iranian regime’s execution machine” denounced.
The NGO boss previously said: “In addition to the inhumanity of the death penalty and the lack of a fair trial in this case, Ahmad Alizadeh has experienced this cruel and humiliating punishment once, and his re-execution is a crime according to all international organizations. standards.’
According to the IHR, there will be a new increase in executions in 2024, with at least 166 executions in October alone, the highest number in a single month since the group began documenting executions in 2007.
Hanging is the most common method of execution in Iran and has been preferred since the late 1980s.
Under Iranian Sharia law, a victim’s family can ask for blood money to spare the perpetrator’s life, or also decide to forgive. Pictured: Local people watch as a hanging is carried out
Harrowing images and videos have shown some of those sentenced to death being hung from cranes, meaning their deaths will be slow and painful as they are hoisted up with a noose and strangled.
Crowds are encouraged to watch as the killings are carried out – often with multiple executions taking place simultaneously and the gruesome scenes even broadcast on television.
When hangings are carried out with a step, the families of the victims are given the right to kick the chair out from under the hanged criminal.
And according to Iran’s penal code, hanging can also be combined with other forms of punishment, such as flogging, amputation or crucifixion.
Activists accuse Iran of using the death penalty as a tool to sow fear throughout society, especially in the wake of the 2022-2023 nationwide protests that rocked Islamic authorities.
Activists including Amnesty International say Iran carries out more executions each year than any country other than China, for which no reliable figures are available.
Iran has been among the worst offenders of state-sanctioned killings for years, alongside countries such as China, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
But the Iranian regime has built a reputation for arbitrary executions and now kills more civilians per capita than any other country.
Iran executed a “staggering” total of at least 834 people last year, the highest number since 2015 when the death penalty surged in the Islamic Republic, two rights groups revealed this week.
The number of executions was up about 43 percent from 2022, marking only the second time in two decades that more than 800 executions were recorded in a year, according to Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) and the Paris-based Together Against the Death. Penalty is stated in a joint report.