Iranian executions
In today’s issue of ‘The Observer’ there is an article on executions in Iran which begins:
“In Vakilabad prison, northern Iran, there is a long beam that can take up to 60 nooses. The condemned are made to stand on stools which are then kicked away. Vakilabad’s record is 89 executions in one day.”
It made me wonder, how do they do that?
For a start, it must be quite a beam. With nooses at 2 ft (600mm) centres, the beam would be around 120ft (36.5 metres) long. 60 of the condemned, at an estimated average weight of 154lbs each, would together weigh over 4 tons. That’s a fair amount of man meat to be thrashing around. It must put a considerable strain on the beam.
Then, how is it organised? 60 men, with nothing to lose, must be a bit of a problem to control. Presumably they can be shackled in the cells, but the leg chains have to be long enough to allow each man to step up onto a stool. If there’s a great crowd of the condemned being brought to the execution chamber at one time, there must be a larger number of hangmen and assistants. The opportunities for chaos and confusion seem substantial.
Perhaps the victims are brought out blindfolded or hooded?
Perhaps they are brought out and noosed individually? Then what?
With unresisting subjects, it might be possible to get the condemned on to his stool, to tighten the noose, and tie off the rope in 30 seconds. It would seem more realistic to allow one minute per person, to allow for those that may struggle. Does this mean that the first to be noosed must wait patiently for up to an hour until all are ready?
It would be possible to kick the stool away as soon as the rope was tied off, but with such close noose spacing the struggles and kicking of the first victim could make it difficult to get the second condemned man on to his stool.
It also seems likely that the designer of the sixty-man gallows was looking for something more of a spectacle. With 60 executioners and maybe 120 assistants it might be possible to get everyone noosed and ready over five or ten minutes. Then all the stools could be kicked away together, leaving the men swinging and jostling together.
Alternatively, if only one man is the designated executioner, but all the victims are noosed and ready, he could kick the stools away one by one, starting at one end. There would be a kind of Mexican wave of swinging bodies flowing down the line, and men at the further end would have the exquisite experience of hearing the clatter of stools and the creak of ropes moving towards them.
Does anyone have any ideas about how sixty men at once are really hanged? Any readers from Vakilabad prison?
In today’s issue of ‘The Observer’ there is an article on executions in Iran which begins:
“In Vakilabad prison, northern Iran, there is a long beam that can take up to 60 nooses. The condemned are made to stand on stools which are then kicked away. Vakilabad’s record is 89 executions in one day.”
It made me wonder, how do they do that?
For a start, it must be quite a beam. With nooses at 2 ft (600mm) centres, the beam would be around 120ft (36.5 metres) long. 60 of the condemned, at an estimated average weight of 154lbs each, would together weigh over 4 tons. That’s a fair amount of man meat to be thrashing around. It must put a considerable strain on the beam.
Then, how is it organised? 60 men, with nothing to lose, must be a bit of a problem to control. Presumably they can be shackled in the cells, but the leg chains have to be long enough to allow each man to step up onto a stool. If there’s a great crowd of the condemned being brought to the execution chamber at one time, there must be a larger number of hangmen and assistants. The opportunities for chaos and confusion seem substantial.
Perhaps the victims are brought out blindfolded or hooded?
Perhaps they are brought out and noosed individually? Then what?
With unresisting subjects, it might be possible to get the condemned on to his stool, to tighten the noose, and tie off the rope in 30 seconds. It would seem more realistic to allow one minute per person, to allow for those that may struggle. Does this mean that the first to be noosed must wait patiently for up to an hour until all are ready?
It would be possible to kick the stool away as soon as the rope was tied off, but with such close noose spacing the struggles and kicking of the first victim could make it difficult to get the second condemned man on to his stool.
It also seems likely that the designer of the sixty-man gallows was looking for something more of a spectacle. With 60 executioners and maybe 120 assistants it might be possible to get everyone noosed and ready over five or ten minutes. Then all the stools could be kicked away together, leaving the men swinging and jostling together.
Alternatively, if only one man is the designated executioner, but all the victims are noosed and ready, he could kick the stools away one by one, starting at one end. There would be a kind of Mexican wave of swinging bodies flowing down the line, and men at the further end would have the exquisite experience of hearing the clatter of stools and the creak of ropes moving towards them.
Does anyone have any ideas about how sixty men at once are really hanged? Any readers from Vakilabad prison?
