IRAN:Iran hanged 21 convicted drug smugglers and other criminals yesterday, Iranian media indicated - the latest of a series of executions that have been criticised by European governments and Western rights groups.
The number of executions, many in public, has risen since July with the launch of a summer crackdown on "immoral behaviour". Police have arrested dozens of drug addicts, smugglers, rapists and murderers.
At least 56 people have been hanged since mid-July, according to a count based on Iranian media reports.
Seventeen drug smugglers were executed in the eastern province of Khorasan Razavi yesterday, the website of state broadcaster IRIB noted. Iran's eastern border areas are notorious for clashes between drug traffickers and security forces.
According to IRIB, a police spokesman said: "They were hanged this morning after all legal procedures were carried out."
Four other offenders were put to death in public in the southern city of Shiraz after being convicted of banditry, smuggling and other crimes, the Fars News Agency said.
Amnesty International says Iran has one of the highest rates of execution in the world and has reported that the number doubled to at least 177 last year.
Iran says it is prosecuting criminals under its Islamic sharia law and rejects criticism of its human rights record.
Meanwhile, the EU said last month it was "deeply concerned about the series of collective public executions that have been taking place in several regions of Iran during the last month, as well as with the growing number of death sentences".
The issue sparked a diplomatic row between Italy, which is leading a push for a global ban on the death penalty, and Iran, which accused Rome of meddling in its internal affairs.
It coincided with a deepening international standoff over Iran's nuclear ambitions, which the West suspects is aimed at developing atomic weapons. Tehran denies the charge.
Murder, rape, adultery, armed robbery, apostasy and drug trafficking are punishable by death under sharia law, imposed after the 1979 revolution.
Before the past month's hangings, Amnesty said at least 124 people had been executed in 2007. Based on those figures, Iran has now put to death some 180 people so far this year.
In Shiraz, a big crowd watched the hangings, Fars reported, adding that onlookers said executions should continue until "all criminal activities had ended" in the area.
A provincial justice department official said one criminal or smuggler had been executed each week in southerly Fars province since the start of the Iranian year on March 21st.
"This shows the efforts of the judiciary system in bringing about permanent social security and a serious confrontation with those people who are corrupt," Abdolnabi Najibi said.