Amnesty International on Friday reacted in a statement to the killing of a man who had been sentenced to death by Iranian judiciary in Mashhad over drinking alcohol, which is forbidden according to the country’s Islamic law.
“The Iranian authorities have once again laid bare the sheer cruelty and inhumanity of their judicial system by executing a man simply for drinking alcohol. The victim was the latest person to be executed in Valkalibad prison, the site of numerous secret mass executions and a grotesque theatre of Iran’s contempt for human life,” Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director of Middle East and North Africa, said in the statement.
“We deplore the Iranian authorities’ repeated use of the death penalty, which has earned it the shameful status of the world’s second most prolific executioner. There is no justification for the death penalty which is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, and we urge the Iranian authorities to abolish it,” Eltahawy added.
According to Iran’s Islamic Penal Code, the punishment for consumption of alcoholic beverages is 80 lashes, and if an individual is convicted and sentenced three times, the punishment on the fourth occasion is death.
Iranian judiciary confirmed the execution of the man, who is reportedly 55, married and father of two.
