Public Execution in Iran: A Man Hanged for Lawyer's Murder

A man in central Iran was publicly hanged on Monday after being convicted of shooting a lawyer to death in August 2021. This event marks Iran's first public hanging of the year. Human rights groups have criticized the practice, urging the international community to denounce such executions.

Authorities in central Iran on Monday publicly executed a man convicted in the shooting death of a lawyer, according to the country's official judicial news agency.

The unidentified convict had fatally shot the lawyer with a hunting rifle in front of his wife and son in Shahroud in August 2021, reported the Mizan.news agency.

In a first for 2023, Iran has publicly hanged an individual, a move tracked by the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights, which monitors executions. The group's director, Mahmoud Amiri Moghaddam, has called on the international community to condemn such public executions.

Iran typically conducts executions by hanging within prison walls, frequently for drug smuggling crimes, according to Iran Human Rights. The group reported that 500 executions took place in 2022.

In 2022, Iran publicly hanged another individual for fatally stabbing two paramilitary force members during violent protests against the country's theocracy.

(With inputs from agencies.)