Iran hangs five convicted sex murderers: report

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran has hanged five men convicted of burning a young woman alive after raping her, at a prison in the central city of Qom, the government newspaper Iran reported on Monday.

The five men identified only as Morteza, 21, Hadi, 24, Javad, 24, Hossein, 19 and Mehdi, 24, were sent to the gallows after being found guilty of the woman's abduction, rape and murder, the paper said.

The victim, who was identified only as Narges, was a newly wed, it added.

"We, together with eight friends, kidnapped and raped her... and then we burned her with petrol while she was still alive to make it impossible to identify her," the paper quoted the two main defendants in the case as saying in a joint confession.

The five men were also found guilty of raping several boys, convictions for which they were sentenced to be thrown off a cliff.

That punishment is prescribed by Iran's Islamic penal code for men raping members of their own sex but there have been few reports of its use.

Five other men have also been convicted and sentenced to death over the woman's murder but have lodged appeals.

The hangings bring to at least 95 the number of executions in Iran so far this year, according to an AFP count.

Human rights watchdog Amnesty International reported that in 2007 Iran made more use of the death penalty than any other country apart from China, executing 317 people during the year.

The total was a sharp increase on 2006, when 177 executions were carried out, according to Amnesty, and came amid a police crackdown on crime.

Capital offences in Iran include murder, rape, armed robbery, drug trafficking and adultery.

Human rights groups have accused Iran of making excessive use of the death penalty but Tehran insists it is an effective deterrent that is carried out only after an exhaustive judicial process.

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