Two men about to be ex-
ecuted last Tuesday were
swept off the gallows by rioting relatives and friends who overcame guards and ran away with the pair.
The period of freedom was brief, however, as the offenders were soon caught and officials resumed the execution where it left off. But again there was a riot at the gallows; the destined-to-die were moved inside while the police restored order. Witnesses told the BBC the police fired on the riotous crowd, killing two people.
The condemned men, Esmail Fathipur and Mohammad Esfandiarpur—were finally hanged the next day behind prison walls.
The pair had been sentenced to die for bank robbery, a crime that is not very common in Iran. They were being hanged in Sirjan in Kerman province in southern Iran.
It wasn’t clear if the “rescue” was spontaneous or a preplanned effort. News reports said angry relatives started throwing stones at the guards and that set off a melee.
The Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) said five people have been arrested for abetting the flight from the gallows and will face punishment themselves. They were caught while on their way to Bandar Abbas on the coast.
Hangings in Iran are sometimes conducted inside prisons, but at other times are carried out in public at the site of one of the convicted man’s crimes.