Iran hangs 3 for rape in latest public execution

TEHRAN, Aug 19 (Reuters) Iran hanged three men in public today for raping a woman, official media reported, the latest in a series of executions in the past month that have been criticised by the European Union and Western rights groups.

They were put to death in the town of Saveh, southwest of the capital Tehran, the IRNA news agency said.

''The sentence was carried out after being endorsed by the Supreme Court,'' IRNA quoted Saveh public prosecutor Reza Shah-Karami as saying.

Amnesty International says Iran has one of the highest rates of execution in the world, and has reported that the number of executions doubled to at least 177 last year.

Iran says it is prosecuting criminals under its Islamic sharia law and rejects criticism of its human rights record.

Police have arrested dozens of drug addicts, smugglers, rapists and murderers during a summer crackdown on crime and ''immoral behaviour''.

At least 34 people have been executed since mid-July, many in front of a crowd of onlookers, including two men in central Tehran on Aug 2 for the murder of a judge who had jailed several reformist dissidents.

The EU said earlier this month it was ''deeply concerned about the series of collective public executions that have been taking place in several regions of Iran during the last month, as well as with the growing number of death sentences.'' The issue sparked a diplomatic row between EU member Italy, which is leading a push for a global ban on the death penalty, and Iran which accused Rome of meddling in its internal affairs.

Murder, rape, adultery, armed robbery, apostasy and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under Iran's sharia law, imposed after the 1979 revolution.

Before the past month's hangings, Amnesty said at least 124 people had been put to death in 2007. Based on those figures, Iran has now executed more than 150 people so far this year.

REUTERS RKM ND1540