Hanged from cranes, thrown off cliffs and stoned to death… Iran’s brutal history of barbaric executions revealed after ‘CIA spies’ sentenced to death

Hanged from cranes, thrown off cliffs and stoned to death… Iran’s brutal history of barbaric executions revealed after ‘CIA spies’ sentenced to death

IRAN’S cruel regime barbarically executes the most people in the world per capita for crimes which include being gay and drinking alcohol. 
Medieval style methods have been used over the years — some with a sinister modern twist — and all are specifically designed to inflict as much suffering before the condemned prisoner dies. 

The chief method used by Iran is hanging. This is not done on a drop, where death comes quick after the neck is brokenCredit: Fars News Agency

Execution victims who have been hoisted on cranes with nooses around their necks

The horrifying executions are carried out in publicCredit: AFP

Earlier this week Iranian intelligence ministry official appeared in a state TV documentary which bragged about capturing 17 CIA spies and sentencing them to death. 
Last year 273 people were executed for a range of crimes in a manner that would not look out of place in Isis' Caliphate. 
But the actual numbers are likely to be much higher as most executions are carried out secretly.
Some have committed serious crimes such as rape and murder

Over the years others have been killed for being gay, committing adultery, sex outside marriage and drinking alcohol.  
In fact “Revolutionary Courts” have the power to execute anyone for anything they deem to be “corruption on earths

Children as young as 12 are sentenced to death which international law forbids. 
In 2018 six kids were executed, including two child brides who killed their abusive adult husbands

hat are Revolutionary Courts?

They are a special system of courts in the Islamic Republic of Iran. 
Trials, which last a few minutes, are blatantly unfair.
They are not held in public, there is no jury and sometimes defence lawyers are banned.  
Human rights group say the evidence used for conviction is often extracted by torture. 
A single judge decides the fate and punishment which is often death. Appeals are not an option.
The courts were founded in 1979 when the Islamic regime came to power.
Opposition was rooted out and convicted. Today they are still used as a tool of repressio

ONSTRUCTION CRANES USED

The chief method used by Iran is hanging.
This is not done on a drop, where death comes quick after the neck is broken. 
Instead construction cranes are used. 
The condemned person is hoisted up on a neck noose and essentially strangled in a slow and agonising way.

Crowds are encouraged to watch and some executions are televised. 
Afterwards the family of the execution victims are reportedly forced to pay for the noose and are not given the bodies until they pay up. 
Iran also executes people by firing squad, although it is a method not often used these days.
Following the Islamic Revolution of 1979, thousands were shot for so-called political offenses, drug trafficking, and crimes against the state

As a final humiliation, firing squad victims have traditionally been made to pay for the bullets that kill them.

'THROWN FROM CLIFFS'

Although officially outlawed since 1981, human rights groups claim a number of people are still being stoned to death in Iran.
This is likely due to the murky nature of Iran's Sharia-based legal system where judges are only given vague punishment guidelines.
This includes ordering judges to simply to execute individuals according to "valid Islamic sources", without specifying the approved methods