Tehran, February 01: Iran has executed a man who claimed he was God, after he was found guilty of heresy and corruption, reported.
Abdulreza Gharabat who was hanged last Wednesday in Ahvaz, southwest Iran was the 67th person to be executed since January 1, according to a tally based on Iranian media reports.
“He had long claimed to be God and had succeeded in gathering around him young Arabs from Khuzestan province,” which has a large Arab minority, Fars reported.
Given the current rate of around two a day, the number of hangings in Iran is set to exceed the 179 publicly announced in 2010.
In 2009, the last year for which complete statistics are available, Iran executed 388 people, according to international human rights groups, making it second only to China in the number of people it put to death.
On Saturday, Iran hanged a Iranian-born naturalised Dutch woman, Sarah Bahrami, 46, on drugs charges. She was reportedly arrested in December 2009 after joining an anti-government protest while visiting relatives.
-Agencies