Four People Handed Death Penalty in Iran over Deadly Bootleg Alcohol

Four people have been sentenced to death in Iran for their alleged involvement in a series of fatal poisonings caused by the consumption of bootleg alcohol in northern Alborz province, the judiciary says.

A total of 11 defendants were put on trial over the distribution of the toxic liquor which killed 17 people and left 191 blinded or hospitalized in June.

Judiciary spokesman Masoud Setayeshi said on September 26 that four defendants were handed capital punishment after being convicted of "corruption on Earth through committing crimes against the physical integrity of people."

The others received prison terms ranging from one year to five years.

The convicts have the option of appealing their conviction to the Supreme Court, Setayeshi said.

Alcohol has been banned in Iran Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, but Iranians still drink foreign and homemade alcoholic beverages that are sold on the black market.

Iranians are increasingly turning to cheap homemade alcohol because many can no longer afford to buy foreign-made beverages amid a deepening economic crisis which has seen growing inflation, unemployment and poverty.