Iran hangs convicted rapist who filmed victims

Iran on Saturday hanged a man convicted of multiple rapes of 37 women whom he coerced by filming acts with them, the Fars and ILNA news agencies reported. The man, aged 67 but not otherwise identified, was executed in a prison in the central city of Isfahan after four years of repeated appeals against his sentence. Isfahan's prosecutor, Mohammad Reza Habibi, was quoted by ILNA as saying the man "video-taped the victims at his home and used the the films for future abuses." He did not go into further detail. The official issued a warning to women in the region to "not fall prey to tricksters ... who seek to sexually abuse them." The hanging brought to 219 the number of executions reported in Iran so far this year, according to an AFP tally based on media and official reports. Human Rights Watch tallied 388 execution cases in Iran in 2010, while Amnesty International put the figure at 252, ranking the Islamic republic second only to China in the number of people put to death last year. Tehran says the death penalty is essential to maintain law and order, and that it is applied only after exhaustive judicial proceedings. Murder, rape, armed robbery, drug trafficking and adultery are among the crimes punishable by death in Iran.