Tehran
Iran has resumed public executions in downtown Tehran for the first time in five years. Two men were hanged from cranes above one of the city’s busiest streets for murdering a judge. Under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, executions have risen sharply. At least 150 people have been put to death this year, including around 30 in the past month. Some of the executed were criminals, but others were political activists accused of participating in “U.S.-backed plots” to topple the regime. Four Iranian-Americans are being held in Iran on such charges. One of them, scholar Haleh Esfandiari, was released from prison on bail this week, but cannot leave the country.
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