In Iran, a record 834 people were executed in a wave of cruel executions and torture that included "medieval" lashings

 In Iran, a record 834 people were executed in a wave of cruel executions and torture that included "medieval" lashings, hangings from cranes, and finger guillotines.

Many nations have either abolished the death sentence entirely or have simply stopped using it in recent years.

According to Amnesty International, the death penalty is now de facto abolished in 32 more territories and is formally prohibited in over 50% of countries.

However, the Islamic Republic of Iran is among the few nations resisting this development.

Iran has long been considered, along with the likes of China, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, one of the deadliest countries for state-sanctioned killings.

However, the Iranian government is currently killing more people and has come to be known for its indiscriminate executions.

Here, MailOnline investigates the brutal methods the Islamic Republic uses to carry out these sentences, and how those condemned to death often have false confessions tortured out of them - or are convicted amid a total lack of due process.

Hanging is the most common method of execution in Iran and has been the preferred approach since the late 1980s.

Read more about Naked Femen militant hanged during protest against visit of Iran president Rohani in Paris France welcome

But rather than affording the condemned person a quicker death with a drop which snaps the neck, a more agonising technique is often used.

Harrowing images and videos show how many sentenced to death are hanged from cranes, meaning their death will be slow and painful as they are hoisted up by a noose and strangled.

Crowds are encouraged to watch as the killings are carried out - with multiple executions often put on at once and the horrific scenes even televised.

When hangings are carried out with a step, victims' families are given the right to kick the chair away from beneath the strung-up criminal.

And according to the Iranian Penal Code, hanging can also be combined with other forms of punishment, such as flogging, amputation, or crucifixion. 

But hanging is by no means the only way the Islamic Republic conducts its numerous executions.

Stoning, one of the most barbaric and medieval practices, has been used to kill more than 150 people since 1980.

Despite several reports that Iran had effectively abolished the practice on several occasions in the 2000s and 2010s, numerous reports from opposition groups and independent media sources in Iran have claimed people are still stoned to death - and several prisoners remain on death row with a sentence of stoning.    

The savage practice sees the condemned buried in sand, usually up to the waist for men and up to the chest for women, before a crowd circles them and pelts them with rocks. 

The stones used are not typically heavy enough to kill the target with one blow, meaning the subject can be brutalised for hours before finally succumbing to their injuries.

In 2010, the then chief of Iran's Human Rights Council defended stoning as a method of execution, arguing it could be seen as a 'lesser punishment'.

This is because the sentence is considered completed when the condemned is pulled out of the earth, meaning that they could potentially free themselves if they can scrabble out of the sand before being killed.

But there are only a few recorded cases of such a feat being successfully achieved - and reports suggest that women who have miraculously managed to free themselves were forced back into the hole and killed anyway.

Stoning has long been prescribed for those convicted of adultery and some sexual offences, but disproportionately affects women.

Firing squads were often deployed in Iran for the execution of military and political prisoners, but although it is still legal, this method is now rarely used. 

The latest report of an execution by firing squad in Iran came in 2008 when a serial rapist was shot dead - although Amnesty International reports suggest a Kurdish political prisoner may have been shot dead in 2020. 

Some of the recent executions in Iran have been particularly shocking and have drawn staunch condemnation the world over.

In May 2023, Iran executed Yousef Mehrdad and Seyed Sadrollah Fazeli Zare in Arak Prison for 'insulting the prophet' and 'blasphemy' related to their peaceful expression on Telegram channels.

Much of the international community condemns the death penalty as ethically reprehensible for the charge of blasphemy because the crime is non-violent and victimless.

Read more about How the country treats the people it has sentenced to death

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