Berlin - Iran should stop a second execution planned for a man who was found alive the day after his first hanging, the human rights group Amnesty International said Thursday.
The prisoner, only identified as Alireza M, 37, was hanged last week for 12 minutes at a prison in Bojnourd in north-eastern Iran after being convicted of drug trafficking and pronounced dead by a doctor, Iranian media reported.
He was found to be breathing the next day in a morgue and was taken to hospital, the reports said.
“Once medical staff confirm his health condition is good enough,” he would be executed again, a judge said.
Amnesty says the case illustrates why it believes the death penalty should be abolished in all countries.
“The horrific prospect of this man facing a second hanging after having gone through the whole ordeal already once merely underlines the cruelty and inhumanity of the death penalty,” said Philip Luther, director of Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa programme.
He said a second execution would be “ghastly” and “betrays a basic lack of humanity that sadly underpins much of Iran's justice system.”
According to statistics compiled by the London-based rights group, Iran ranks second in the world among countries carrying out executions. The first is China, where executions are a state secret but which is believed to carry out thousands a year.
Iran is believed to have executed at least 508 people so far this year, Amnesty said.
Sapa-dpa