AFP, Tehran, Aug 7, 2008 (excerpts) – Iran has hanged three men in a prison in the country’s central clerical capital, Qom, the conservative Kayhan newspaper reported on Thursday.
The report identified the men sent to the gallows as Mehdi 27, Javad 34 and Ali 38.

The latest hangings bring to at least 163 the number of executions in Iran this year, according to an AFP count.

Amnesty International reported that in 2007 Iran applied the death penalty more often than any other country apart from China, executing 317 people during the year.