Region | Iran
Iran says number of executions is 'not high'
The number of executions in Iran is "not high", the judiciary said on Tuesday, responding to an Amnesty International report that listed the Islamic Republic as the world's second most prolific executioner in 2007.
- Agencies
- Published: 15:09 April 15, 2008
Tehran: The number of executions in Iran is "not high", the judiciary said on Tuesday, responding to an Amnesty International report that listed the Islamic Republic as the world's second most prolific executioner in 2007.
Amnesty said on Tuesday that Iran had executed 317 people last year. China, the world's leading executioner, carried out at least 470 death sentences in 2007, the rights group said.
Asked to comment on the figure given by Amnesty, judiciary spokesman Alireza Jamshidi said, "Whether Iran has had that number of executions I don't know, but the number is not high."
He also told a news conference, "The bulk of executions in Iran have to do with retribution ... and they can be retracted with the consent of the next of kin."
European governments and Western rights groups have criticised Iran for an increasing number of hangings since authorities launched a clampdown on "immoral behaviour" in July.
Murder, adultery, rape, armed robbery, apostasy and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under Iran's sharia law, practised since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
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