Tehran [Iran], November 13 : Iran on Wednesday executed for the second time 26-year-old Ahmad Alizadeh, a man on death row for murder who was previously hanged for 28 seconds before being resuscitated as per a rights organisation.
Alizadeh, who was sentenced to 'qisas' (retribution-in-kind) for murder after his arrest in October 2018, was taken to the gallows in April and hanged but pulled down after 28 seconds at the request of the plaintiffs and transferred back to his cell after being resuscitated, Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) said.
The organisation which tracks executions in Iran, said in a statement said that the family of the accused shouted "forgiveness, forgiveness" while Alizadeh was on the gallows after which "he was and brought back to life with CPR."
Under Iran's sharia law, a victim's family can ask for blood money to spare the life of the perpetrator or also decide to forgive. However, in many cases, the family of the condemned person cannot afford the sum set and the execution goes ahead, according to activists.
A relative of Alizadeh said that he "was an elite student who never accepted the charges as he had confessed under torture but they want to execute him again," the relative said as per the NGO.
So far none of Iranian media has reported the execution, the organization said.
The first time his death sentence was carried out was on April 27 in Ghezel Hesar prison in Karaj outside Tehran. Alizadeh remained under the threat of the death penalty in the absence of any deal with the victim's family for blood money. He was executed again in the Ghezel Hesar prison on Wednesday morning, IHR said.
"Ahmad Alizadeh, a talented student, was hanged for the second time on charges of murder, which he denied and claimed he confessed to under torture," said IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, denouncing the "execution machine of the Iranian regime".
Activists accuse Iran of using the death penalty to instill fear throughout society, particularly in the wake of 2022-2023 nationwide protests which shook the Islamic authorities.
According to IHR, 2024 is seeing a new surge in executions, with at least 166 executions recorded in October alone, the highest number recorded in a single month since the group began documenting executions in 2007.
As, per Amnesty International Iran carries out more annual executions than any country other than China, for which no reliable figures are available, the IHR said.
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