Iran Hangs 16 Convicted Criminals

Iran hanged 12 men convicted for various offences including rape and kidnapping.

 Iran hanged 12 men convicted for various offences including rape and kidnapping on Sunday, a few days after executing four men for similar crimes, the semi-official Fars news agency quoted a judiciary official.

Tehran public prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi said dozens of bandits, robbers and rapists had been arrested in recent weeks.

"Twelve of these bandits were hanged on Sunday morning inside Tehran's Evin prison," he said.

"Four other convicts were also executed last week."

Iran has one of the highest rates of execution in the world, according to Amnesty International. Since the beginning of 2007, at least 124 people have been put to death.

State television aired footage of the handcuffed convicts just before being hanged.

It showed the execution chamber with at least three blue ropes that would be used.

"Those who carry out such crimes will eventually face the same fate as I do," said Ebrahim Eskandari, a convicted murderer, who was hanged on Sunday.

Police have arrested dozens of drug addicts, smugglers, rapists and murderers during an annual summer crackdown on "immoral behaviour". A number of women have also been arrested for flouting Islamic dress code, imposed since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution.

Amnesty says while it recognised Iran's right to bring to justice those suspected of serious crimes, the death penalty was a violation of the right to life and the "ultimate form of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment".