Mohammad Ali Salamat Publicly Hanged in Hamedan

According to state media, a man was publicly hanged in Baghe Behesht park in Hamedan on 12 November. His identity has been established as 43-year-old Mohammad Ali Salamat who was sentenced to death for rape charges.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Mohammad Ali Salamat was arrested for the rape of 150 women a year and a half ago and sentenced to death. There were no private plaintiffs in the case and he was forced to confess to many of the rapes under torture.

According to Tasnim news agency, Mohammad Ali Salamat known as Ali Salamat lured his victims under the pretext of marriage, friendship, providing medicine and in some cases, by force. The legal case against him was filed on 21 May 2023 and many plaintiffs presentenced evidence of his widespread rape.”

Mohammad Ali Salmat is the fourth man to be publicly hanged in Iran in 2024. 2021 was the first year in over a decade during which no public executions were carried out by the Islamic Republic. This followed 2020 when only one execution was recorded, which was the lowest number since 2008, when Iran Human Rights started its systematic monitoring of executions in Iran. There is no indication that the decline in the number of public executions were the result of policy change, but rather a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. In 2022, public executions returned to the streets of Iran with two people publicly executed. That number rose to seven in 2024.

In cases of rape, there is a high chance of defendants being tortured to make false confessions, which is used to issue death sentences. In Iran is one of the few countries in the world that issues the death penalty for rape. A lot of cases are also rushed without the defendants having access to a lawyer.

According to the 2023 Annual Report on the Death Penalty, at least 20 people were executed for rape charges in 2022 compared to 23 in 2022 and 10 in 2021.