Iran on Wednesday hanged seven men, most of whom sentenced to death for murder crimes, in Gohardasht Prison of Karaj, west of Tehran, reports indicate.
All the victims were transferred to solitary confinement on Monday, in preperation for their executions.
One of the victims was identified as Mohammad Saleh Dolatabadi while there is no information available on the identities of the other six.
Mohammad Saleh Dolatabadi was sentenced to death for a murder allegedly he committed 11 years ago. However a few years after his arrest in 2007, investigations uncovered evidence that shows Dolatabadi was likely innocent.
The body of the victim has not yet been found. Furthermore, eyewitnesses say that after Dolatabadi was imprisoned and sentenced to death, they saw the victim alive.
It is said the state security forces arrested Dolatabadi’s mother and sister to pressure him to confess the crime.
In yet another case on Tuesday an inmate was hanged in Central Prison of Tabriz, northwest of Iran.
Hossein Talati, 31, was found guilty of murder. He had endured six years behind bars.
Meanwhile, Bahman Varmaziyar, a young man convicted to death for stealing, was executed today in western city of Hamedan. He was hanged while he had returned all he stole and the plaintiff dropped all charges. He turned himself in to the police and there were even media reports of his verdict being suspended.
According to the latest report of the Amnesty International, among all the recorded executions worldwide last year, more than 51 percent were carried out in Iran.
Although second, behind China in terms of executions, Iran “carried out 84 percent of the global total number of executions.”
The number of executions in Iran last year was 507, “accounting for 60 percent of all confirmed executions in the region.” Of the 507 people executed, “501 were men and six were women. At least five juvenile offenders were executed, and 31 executions were carried out publicly.”
