Iranian authorities on Saturday executed three men in the northern city of Gorgan after they were found guilty of rape, according to the country’s judiciary.
Local judiciary chief Heydar Asiabi confirmed the executions, stating that the sentences were carried out early in the morning at Gorgan’s central prison.
The executions, as is customary in the Islamic Republic, were conducted by hanging at dawn.
“The death sentences of three men convicted of rape were carried out this morning in the prison of the northern city of Gorgan,” Asiabi was quoted as saying by Mizan Online, the judiciary’s official news outlet.
Asiabi noted that the men were part of a three-member gang arrested shortly after three women reported being raped.
He did not provide further details on the case or the identities of the convicts.
Iran, which has some of the strictest penal laws in the world, considers rape and murder capital offences.
It remains the second-highest executing country globally, after China, according to international human rights groups such as Amnesty International.
While most executions in Iran are carried out behind prison walls, public hangings are not uncommon.
Just earlier this month, Iranian authorities publicly executed a man convicted of raping and murdering a young girl, a case that sparked widespread public outrage.
