IRAN. FIVE CONVICTED SEX MURDERERS HANGED

May 11, 2008: Iran hanged five men convicted of burning a young woman alive after raping her, at a prison in the central city of Qom, the government newspaper Iran reported.
The five men identified only as Morteza, 21, Hadi, 24, Javad, 24, Hossein, 19 and Mehdi, 24, were sent to the gallows after being found guilty of the woman's abduction, rape and murder, the paper said.
The victim, who was identified only as Narges, was a newly wed, it added.
"We, together with eight friends, kidnapped and raped her... and then we burned her with petrol while she was still alive to make it impossible to identify her," the paper quoted the two main defendants in the case as saying in a joint confession.
The five men were also found guilty of raping several boys, convictions for which they were sentenced to be thrown off a cliff.
That punishment is prescribed by Iran's Islamic penal code for men raping members of their own sex but there have been few reports of its use.
Five other men have also been convicted and sentenced to death over the woman's murder but have lodged appeals. (Sources: AFP, 12/05/2008: Iran Human Rights, 12/05/2008)