On 28 November, the Public Relations Unit of Kermanshah General and Revolutionary Courts issued a statement about the execution of two inmates convicted of rape and kidnapping. According to local sources, the two convicts were hanged at 10 in the morning on Sunday 29 November in Kermanshah’s Azadi Square with onlookers stated to be “in the thousands.”

Branches One and Two of the Kermanshah Criminal Court sentenced Meysam Rokhsareh and Hamed Haghi to public hanging on the charges of kidnapping and rape, respectively. After the Supreme Court upheld the sentences, they were hanged in the presence of judicial authorities and city residents.

In his October 2011 report about the conditions of human rights in Iran, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon criticized the practice of public hangings, calling it cruel, inhumane, and degrading. Despite continuing criticism by human rights organizations, activists, and the international community, Iran continues to conduct public executions. According to research conducted by the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, at least 411 people were executed from January to November 2011.

Official Iranian media has also reported about the executions of six other prisoners convicted of drug trafficking inside Kermanshah’s Dizel Abad Prison. The six inmates’ names were not revealed. A former inmate of the prison told the Campaign that hundreds of prisoners are detained inside Wards 2, 4, 5, 6 and 8 inside Dizel Abad Prison on drug-related as well as rap charges. The Supreme Court upheld their execution sentences, and they are currently on death row.

Two men hanged publicly in Kermanshah's Azadi Square