Iran’s justice minister said on Tuesday that there was “no need” to re-hang a man who survived the gallows in Iran last week.
The man, named Alireza M, was convicted of drug smuggling and sentenced to death in northeastern Iran. The execution began as planned and, according to reports, Alireza was left to hang for 12 minutes before a doctor declared him dead, the BBC reports.
The body was then taken to the morgue, but when the prisoner’s family arrived the following day to collect the body, they found he was still breathing. Alireza was moved to a hospital with armed guards where, according to the state-run IRNA news agency, he has since gone into a coma.
The judge who issued the sentence has said the execution should be carried out again. “The sentence is approved and the sentence is death, so we will follow through with the execution order again,” he said.
According to the INSA news agency, Iran’s Justice Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi said executing the man for a second time would impact Iran’s image. Iran has one of the highest rates of execution in the world.
