Serial rapist, kidnapper publicly hanged in Iran

Serial rapist, kidnapper publicly hanged in Iran

LONDON, July 12 (IranMania) - A man convicted of the serial rape and kidnapping of dozens of young girls with the help of his wife has been hanged in public in the central Iranian city of Isfahan, newspapers said Wednesday.

The man, identified only by his first name Behzad, 34, from the southern town of Bam, was convicted of 340 counts of abduction in which he raped 175 of his victims, Etemad Melli newspaper said.

A crowd of hundreds of onlookers cheered and applauded as he was hanged from a crane, it said.

According to the report, he was arrested in November 2004 in the central city of Natanz. His 20-year-old wife, Anita, who served as an accomplice in the crimes, was sentenced to 10 years in jail and 74 lashes.

The hanging brings to at least 74 the number of people executed in Iran so far in 2006, according to an AFP tally based on press and witness reports.

Amnesty International has said 94 executions were carried out in 2005.

Capital offences in the Islamic republic include murder, rape, armed robbery, apostasy, blasphemy, serious drug trafficking, repeated sodomy, adultery or prostitution, and treason and espionage, AFP noted.

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