Iranian authorities Thursday executed a man in public in front of large crowds, a rights group said, denouncing a “medieval” practice as the Islamic Republic presses on with a surge in hangings.
The man, who had been convicted of the capital crime of “corruption on earth,” was executed in the city of Maragheh in the northern province of East Azerbaijan, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) said.
The international community cannot endorse such medieval practices,” said IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, adding the execution shows the “true face of a government that tries to prolong its life with cruelty, humiliation and intimidation of society.”
The images posted on Iranian news websites showed what appeared to be hundreds of people gathered to watch the execution, kept at a distance behind a security tape, as prosecutors addressed reporters.
According to IHR, 278 people have been executed this year alone.
