IRAN TO EXECUTE FOUR FOR RAPING A MAN

August 9, 2008: a court in Iran handed death sentences to four men including a minor for raping a man after a fight, the Etemad Melli newspaper reported. Judges in the northwestern province of East Azerbaijan sentenced the four identified only as Hamid, Ebrahim, Mehdi and Mohammad after they were convicted of raping a man named as Hojat. The sentence must also be approved by the State Supreme Court. According to the daily the four denied the charge and said police had forced them to sign a fake confession. "After the fight... police arrested Mohammad and me and forced us to confess. The officer said 'write down what I tell you'," 17-year-old Mehdi was quoted as saying. The verdicts were issued on the basis of "knowledge of the judge." Under Iran's Islamic penal code this rule allows a court to decide in a case. "We had problems with the plaintiff and his family before and they filed a complaint against us. Now they have accused us," another convict, Hamid, said. "The policeman asked me to admit responsibility and told me if I did that he would take care of the problem... so under pressure I wrote down everything he said and then inked it with my fingerprint," Hamid added. (Sources: Agence France Presse, 09/08/2008)