EBADI RIGHTS GROUP PROTESTS IRAN MASS EXECUTION

the rights group run by Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi protested the hanging by Iran of 29 criminals in a mass execution and said it doubted the convicts were given a fair trial. "The Defenders of Human Rights Centre... is against capital punishment and believes it should be removed from the list of punishments in any country," the group said in a statement. "It seems that the hanged men were deprived of a fair judicial procedure," the Defenders of Human Rights Centre said. "No authority has the right to deprive defendants of their rights during the arrest, trial and tribunal procedures as well as the right to legal representation," it said. Authorities have defended the hangings, saying capital punishment is an effective deterrent that is used only after an exhaustive judicial process. But Ebadi's group dismissed that justification, saying: "The use of capital punishment will have no effect in cutting crime and will rather increase crime."