Five armed bandits received 74 lashes of the whip each...

Five armed bandits received 74 lashes of the whip each in one of the major squares of the ancient central Iranian city of Esfahan for a variety of crimes including rape, armed robbery, hooliganism and disrupting public security on various occasions.
Mahmud Abdollahi, Ahmad Maleki, Ali Reza Baqer-Sad, Mohammad Alijani and Mostafa Baduri were then handed over to Esfahan's Central Prison authorities where they are sentenced to stay for the next 15 years.
The band chief, Rasul Chatra'i, was found guilty on two counts of premeditated murder and sentenced to capital punishment.
He is scheduled to be publicly hanged in one of the densely crowded Esfahan streets on April 7.