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TEHRAN, July 19, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Iranian authorities executed three men in the north of the country on Saturday after they were sentenced to death for rape, the judiciary said.

"The death sentences of three men convicted of rape were carried out this morning in the prison of the northern city of Gorgan," local judiciary chief Heydar Asiabi was quoted as saying by the judiciary's Mizan Online news website.

Murder and rape are punishable by death in Iran, the world's second most prolific executioner after China, according to human rights groups including Amnesty International.

"The three-member gang was quickly arrested after three women reported a rape," Asiabi said, without providing further details.

Executions in the Islamic republic are generally carried out by hanging at dawn.

Most are carried out in prisons but earlier this month authorities hanged a man in public in the northwest after he was convicted of raping and murdering a young girl in a case that sparked an outcry.