Iran publicly hangs a man convicted of murder

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Authorities in central Iran on Monday publicly hanged a man who was convicted in the shooting death of a lawyer, the country's official judicial news agency said.

The man, who was not identified, had been convicted of fatally shooting the lawyer with a hunting rifle in front of his wife and son in the city of Shahroud in August 2021, the Mizan.new agency said.

It was the first public hanging of the year in Iran, according to the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights, which tracks executions in the country. The group's director, Mahmoud Amiri Moghaddam, urged the international community to condemn such public executions.

Iran typically carries out executions by hanging inside prisons, often for the crime of drug smuggling, Iran Human Rights says. The country executed 500 convicts in 2022, the group says.

In 2022, Iran publicly hanged a man convicted of fatally stabbing two members of a paramilitary force during violence connected with nationwide protests challenging the country’s theocracy.