TEHRAN, Iran (BN24) — In a stark demonstration of Iran’s use of public executions under Islamic law, a man convicted of murdering a woman and her three children was publicly hanged from a crane as a crowd gathered to watch, cheer, and applaud in a southern city on August 19.
Graphic footage widely circulated online shows the condemned man, identified as Sajad Molayi Hakani, blindfolded with a noose around his neck, standing on a raised platform moments before the crane lifts him into the air. Spectators, including young children, are visible in the crowd, some clapping as the execution is carried out in broad daylight.
Hakani had been sentenced under qisas, the Islamic principle of “retaliation in kind,” for the killings committed during a robbery in October. Iranian judicial officials said he was found guilty of murdering a mother and her three children in a brutal attack that shocked the Fars province.
Authorities confirmed the execution was conducted in public with full state sanction. The man operating the crane appeared to be part of the official execution team, emphasizing the procedural and punitive nature of the sentence.
Sadrallah Rajaei, head of the judiciary in Fars province, stated that Hakani’s wife, Masha Akbari, who was also implicated in the crime, is scheduled for execution in prison. “The qisas sentence of the second defendant in this case, who is the wife of the first defendant, will be carried out in prison in the presence of the victims’ next of kin,” Rajaei said.
The case is one of several recent examples of Iran’s strict application of capital punishment. On the same day, another public execution reportedly took place in the northern city of Kordkuy, Golestan province. Provincial judiciary chief Heidar Asiabi confirmed the hanging of a man convicted of fatally stabbing a couple and a young woman with a hunting knife late last year. That execution was also conducted publicly, at the alleged crime scene, just before dawn.
Human rights groups have long criticized Iran for its frequent and public use of capital punishment, particularly executions carried out by hanging in front of large crowds. Iran remains among the top countries in the world for recorded executions annually, with authorities often invoking Islamic law and public deterrence as justification.
The public hanging in Fars — captured and shared widely on social media — has once again reignited international concerns about the spectacle of death and the role of public executions in Iran’s justice system.
