An Iranian court sentenced Mohammad Ali Firouzi, a...

An Iranian court sentenced Mohammad Ali Firouzi, a 34 year old man convicted of serial raping children, to eight death sentences and 173 lashes, the judge in charge of the case said.
Firouzi was sentenced to hang in each of the eight rape counts he confessed to Judge Karam Ali Bahrami said. Firouzi was also found guilty of raping 15 other children, plus kidnapping and molesting 36 others, some of whom he robbed.
The judge said he sentenced Firouzi to 10 years in jail for the molestation and robbery charges, plus 15 years imprisonment for kidnapping.
Firouzi will also receive 173 lashes, 74 for robbery and molestation and 99 for the 15 rape counts he did not confess to. The defendant had pleaded guilty to the eight rape counts during a trial that opened on October 1 in the southern Iranian town of Marvdasht, where the crimes had taken place.
It was unclear when Firouzi committed his first offence, but Marvdasht police received the first victim complaint in early 2002.
One of the victim's mothers, who refused to be identified, told The Associated Press by phone that most of the children were between five and nine years old.
The court ruled that Firouzi be hanged in public. Convicts in Iran are hanged in public only if a court deems their offences injured public sentiments.