Iran judicial chief must now approve public executions
TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran announced on Wednesday that the powerful head of its judiciary must in future approve any executions to be carried out in public and banned all pictures of the events.
The new decree was issued by judicial chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi after a year which saw the number of executions soaring to almost 300 under a government campaign to improve security in society.
According to Shahrudi's decree, "public executions will be carried out only with his approval and based on social necessities," judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi said in a statement.
"Publishing photos or images regarding the executions in the media is prohibited based on this decree," he added.
The ruling could reduce the number of public executions in Iran, although their number is not known.
Previously, it was the presiding judge in the case who decided whether the convicted criminal would be subject to public execution, while the Iranian supreme court gives the final word on a sentence of capital punishment.
Iran -- which has been accused by human rights groups of excessive use of the death penalty -- has executed 28 convicts so far this year, according to media reports.
The number of executions soared last year to 298, according to an AFP count, up from 177 in 2006, according to Amnesty International figures.
Iran currently makes more use of the death penalty than any other country apart from China, with the authorities saying it is an effective deterrent that is used only after an exhaustive judicial process.
Capital offences include murder, rape, armed robbery, serious drug trafficking and adultery. Hanging is the most common method of execution in the country, although stoning and firing squads are used in exceptional cases.
Four days ago, an Iranian firing squad executed a man who raped 17 children.
"Based on the nation's laws, capital punishment only pertains to very limited crimes, so it should not be implemented or publicised in a way that would be a psychological disturbance to society especially the young," judicial spokesman Jamshidi said.
Shahrudi, who was appointed by Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has in the past taken a stance against spread of executions when in 2002 the judiciary issued a directive suspending the punishment of stoning.
Amnesty International earlier this month called on the Iranian authorities to abolish executions by stoning, which the human rights group described as "grotesque and horrific".
In July, Iranian authorities confirmed that Jafar Kiani had been executed by stoning for adultery, the first time in five years it confirmed such a punishment.
The Iranian judiciary launched a probe into the local judge who ordered the the sentence, saying it was contrary to Shahrudi's directive.
Under the punishment of stoning, a male convict is buried up to his waist with his hands tied behind his back, while a woman is buried up to her neck.
Spectators and officials start throwing stones and rocks at the convict, who is theoretically released if he is able to free himself.
Nobel peace prize winner Shirin Ebadi's rights group earlier this month spoke out against the rising number of executions, blaming "resistance and indifference of an extremist current in the judicial system."
The group highlighted the execution of Raheleh Zamani, 27, a mother of two small children who was convicted of murdering her husband and was hanged despite her lawyers' efforts to spare her from the gallows.
