These pictures, from the official Iranian Fars news agency, are not pleasant, but are a reminder of what kind of regime runs Iran.
Public hangings in downtown Teheran, August 2, 2007: here and here.
In other photos I have seen of Iranian executions in recent days, parents have taken young girls, aged about 7 or 8, to watch the bodies as they hang.
These are part of the largest wave of executions since 1984.
Leading Iranian commentator Amir Taheri writes about them today in the Wall Street Journal:
Over the past six weeks, at least 118 people have been executed (many live on television), and four have been stoned to death. According to Saeed Mortazavi, the chief Islamic prosecutor, at least 150 more people, including five women, are scheduled to be hanged or stoned to death in the coming weeks.
… The campaign of terror also includes targeted “disappearances” designed to neutralize trade union leaders, student activists, journalists and even mullahs opposed to the regime.
… [In addition,] to intimidate the population, the authorities also have carried out mass arrests on spurious grounds. … By last week, 40,000 were still in prison. Of these, 20,363 men and women are held on charges related to violating the Islamic Dress Code. According to the Deputy Chief of Police Gen. Hussein Zulfiqari, an additional 6,204 men and women are in prison on charges of “sexual proximity” without being married.
Why isn’t the New York Times, BBC and CNN covering this?