Tehran, Sep 18 (IANS/EFE): Iranian authorities hanged Thursday in public five prisoners who had been sentenced to death on charges of kidnapping, rape, armed robbery and other crimes, state news agency IRNA reported.
Three of the hangings of prisoners convicted of kidnapping, rape and torture took place early Thursday at Azadi Square in the southern city of Shiraz after a provincial court upheld their sentences.
Two other prisoners who had been sentenced to death for armed robbery and the charge of "corruption on earth" were hanged separately in public in Shiraz and Marvdasht.
According to the Centre for Documentation of Human Rights in Iran, an organisation based in the US, Iran executed 624 people in 2013 and 531 so far this year.
But this year, the Iranian authorities have announced the hanging of only 188 people.