Iran: Amnesty Urges Halt To Second Hanging

Rights activists estimate that Iran has executed several hundred people this year. (file photo)

Amnesty International is demanding that Iranian authorities cancel plans to hang a man a second time after he survived a first hanging.

The 37-year-old prisoner, identified only as "Alireza M," was hanged in Bojnourd prison in northeast Iran last week for drug crimes.

Reports say a doctor pronounced him dead, but he was found, alive, in a morgue the next day and was taken to a hospital, where he is recovering.

Philip Luther, director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa program, said a second execution attempt would be "ghastly" and "betrays a basic lack of humanity that sadly underpins much of Iran's justice system."

According to the London-based rights group, Iran has executed at least 508 people so far this year.