Monday, September 7, 2015 8:16:59 PM

Mahmoud Barati along with ten other prisoners was executed by gallows in Ghezel Hesar prison of Karaj city earlier morning on 7 Sep 2015.

Mr. Barati, an Iranian school teacher, who was sentenced to the capital punishment based on false charges as drug-related crimes was hanged on to death only for the testimony of an offensive, Iran Human Rights said. There were not any other pieces of evidence against Mr. Barati besides the testimony of an inmate, was also accused of drug smuggling.

�The key witness, who was later executed for drug trafficking, had withdrawn his testimony�, the rights group reported.

He, who worked as a teacher in Taybad County in Razavi Khorasan Province, had not ever been charged with crimes; his family had not allegedly chose their rights for the last farewell.

The other prisoners who were executed in the same jail at the same time included Ali Tafreshi, Mehdi Rahimi from the Unit two of the prison and Hussein Rostami from Fasha Prison (in the south of Iran�s capital city), five inmates from Central Great Prison of Tehran and an unknown prisoner.

Prior to the execution, Amnesty International have expressed concern to halt the possible capital punishment against Mr. Barati by releasing a statement on early Monday.

He was arrested for alleged drug offences about ten years ago, the rights groups said.

�The Iranian authorities must immediately halt the execution of Mahmoud Barati, a teacher who was convicted of drug-related offences following an unfair trial that is believed to have included a confession obtained through torture and other ill-treatment�, Amnesty International said.

Nearly 700 put to death by gallows in just over six months; Iran�s staggering execution toll for the first half in 2015. �If Iran�s authorities maintain this horrifying execution rate we are likely to see more than 1,000 state-sanctioned deaths by the year�s end�, AI said on 23 July 2015.

By: Kaveh Taheri