Iran Executes Four Drug Smugglers
Iran was the world's second leading executioner in 2008, after China.
November 07, 2009
TEHRAN (Reuters) -- Iran has executed four men convicted of smuggling drugs, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.
Murder, adultery, rape, armed robbery, drug trafficking and apostasy -- the renouncing of religion, in this case Islam -- are all punishable by death under Iranian Shari'a law practiced since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
"They were hanged inside a prison in [the southeastern province of] Kerman today," a judiciary spokesman told Fars.
Since authorities launched a clampdown on "immoral behavior" in July 2007, police have arrested dozens of drug addicts, smugglers, rapists, and murderers.