In a brutal execution of justice, Iran carried out its second public execution in three days. On Thursday, August 21, an Iranian man convicted of murder was executed at the scene of his crime. The man was convicted of killing a couple and a young woman with a hunting rifle in late 2024. The man was hanged publicly from a crane at dawn in Kordkuy, “at the scene of the crime and in public,” said provincial judiciary chief Heidar Asiabi to the Judiciary’s Mizan online news website.

This execution comes just two days after a man was publicly hanged in the Southern Province of Fars after being convicted of the murder of a mother and her three children during a robbery. His wife is also sentenced to death. It is to be executed on a later date.

Iran has executed 612 people, reportedly in the first half of this year. According to Amnesty International, Iran executes more people than any other country, just after China. The UN human rights group have reported a worrying trend in the surge of death sentences. However, public executions in Iran are very rare. It is reserved for the most heinous crimes, which create public outrage. These are meant to serve as a deterrent. Most of the executions are carried out in prison.

Iran has responded that it uses the death penalty only in the ‘most severe cases’. Murder, rape, adultery, and drug crimes are capital offences in Iran. Islamic law considers ‘corruption on earth’ and ‘enmity against god’ also punishable by death.

Typically, Iranian law allows the family of the victim to choose between retribution, (Diyat) blood money and forgiveness. In some severe cases of Qisas, the victim’s family can carry out the execution.