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Iranian who survived execution to be hanged again

Morgue worker shocked to discover that 37-year-old man hanged for smuggling drugs still alive day after execution. Authorities nevertheless determined to re-execute him

In early October, Alireza, a 37-year-old man jailed for smuggling drugs and sentenced to death in Iran, woke up to what was supposed to be his last day alive.

 

Just before sunrise, guards hooked ropes around his neck and hanged him for possessing a kilo of crystal meth. Exactly 12 minutes later medics pronounced him dead and sent his body for burial.

 

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But as Britain's The Guardian reports, on the following day a worker in the morgue noticed steam in the plastic cover Alireza was wrapped in. He was still alive.

 

According to the report, Iranian judicial authorities are waiting for him to make a full recovery before they hang him again.

 

Iran's judiciary has argued that he was sentenced to death, rather than to hanging, and should be re-executed. But human rights activists, already concerned about Iran's high rate of executions, say he should be spared.

 

A nurse told a local paper that Alireza's general health was satisfactory and he was making progress day by day. "We couldn't believe he was still alive when we went to collect his body," a relative told the Iranian newspaper. "More than anyone, his two daughters are very happy."

 

In recent years, Iran has consistently been among the five countries with the highest rates of executions. China tops the list. In 2012, Iran is known to have executed at least 314 people, according to figures released by Amnesty International, but this could be far below the true number of executions in the country. Iran says most of the executions are related to drug offences.

 

 

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פרסום ראשון: 10.17.13, 10:47
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