two men convicted of armed robbery were hanged in the south Iranian city of Sirjan in Kerman

two men convicted of armed robbery were hanged in the south Iranian city of Sirjan in Kerman province, reported the state run news agency Fars. The men were identified as "Esmaeil Fathizadeh" and "Mohammad Esfandiarpour". They were scheduled to be executed in public in the morning. But few moments after being hanged they were rescued by many people, among them families of the two men, who threw stones at the security forces and shouted slogans against the Iranian regime. The security forces answered with tear gas and shooting in the air. But the people managed to take away the bodies of the two men. One of the men seemed to be still alive when his body was removed by the protesting people, said the report. Few hours later both men were arrested by the security forces and their hanging was rescheduled to early evening. But due to heavy clashes between the people and the security forces they were transferred to the prison where it is believed they were hanged. Quoting Farajollah Karegar, general prosecutor of Sirjan, the state run news agency ISNA reported that the two men were hanged late evening and 14 others have been arrested in connection with their escape. Farajollah Karegar admitted that due to clashes with people the authorities’ second attempt to hang the men in public failed and they were transferred to the prison. He also said that two people were killed under the clashes and several cars belonging to the security forces were damaged. According to Iran Human Rights, many people have been arrested in connection to this public uprising, at least 3 people were killed and more than 30 wounded, some of them seriously.