![](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2013\/03\/amnestyintl.logo_.2.jpg\" "\\"amnestyintl.logo_.2\\""){kind=logo}
Source: Amnesty International
Iran must stop the execution of man who was found alive at a morgue a day after being hanged, Amnesty International urged today after authorities said the prisoner would be hanged for a second time once his condition improves.<\/p>\n
The 37-year-old, identified as \u201cAlireza M\u201d, was hanged in Bojnourd prison in north-east Iran last week after being convicted of drug offences.<\/p>\n
According to official state media, a doctor declared him dead after the 12 minute-hanging, but when the prisoner\u2019s family went to collect his body the following day he was found to still be breathing.<\/p>\n
He is currently in hospital, but a judge reportedly said he would be executed again \u201conce medical staff confirm his health condition is good enough\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe horrific prospect of this man facing a second hanging, after having gone through the whole ordeal already once, merely underlines the cruelty and inhumanity of the death penalty,\u201d said Philip Luther, Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Iranian authorities must immediately halt Alireza M\u2019s execution and issue a moratorium on all others.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alireza M is now reported to be in a \u201csatisfactory\u201d condition in hospital, and a family member told reports the prisoner\u2019s two daughters were \u201cthe happiest of all\u201d that he was alive.<\/p>\n
He had reportedly been sentenced to death for drug trafficking by the Revolutionary Court, which tries drug offenders in Iran in proceedings that often do not meet international standards of fair trial.<\/p>\n
So far in 2013, the Iranian authorities are believed to have executed a total of at least 508 people, including 221 executions that have not been officially confirmed.<\/p>\n
The majority of those executed were convicted of drug offences.
\u201cIt is natural that the Iranian authorities must combat the serious social, security and economic problems relating to drug trafficking and drug abuse but the reliance on the death penalty to combat drug trafficking is misguided and in violation of international law,\u201d said Philip Luther.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople want to be protected from crime, but the death penalty does not make societies safer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even the Secretary General of the Iranian Judiciary\u2019s High Council for Human Rights, Mohammad Javad Larijani, expressed doubts in 2011 that the death penalty reduces crimes related to drug trafficking.<\/p>\n
\u201cCarrying out a second execution on a man who somehow managed to survive 12 minutes of hanging \u2013 who was certified as dead and whose body was about to be turned over to his family \u2013 is simply ghastly. It betrays a basic lack of humanity that sadly underpins much of Iran\u2019s justice system,\u201d said Philip Luther<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Source: Amnesty InternationalIran must stop the execution of man who was found alive at a morgue a day after being hanged, Amnesty International urged today after authorities said the prisoner […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":39653,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[175],"class_list":{"0":"post-14952","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-human-rights","8":"tag-updated"},"yoast_head":"\n