Iran: 4 people handed death penalty over bootleg alcohol that killed 17
Representative image of bootleg alcohol
An Iranian court has sentenced to death four people for their involvement in selling contaminated bootleg liquor that killed 17 and sent hundreds to hospitals in June, reported news agency AFP.
As many as 11 defendants had been put on trial over thedistribution of toxic liquor in Alborz province, west of Tehran.
Judiciary spokesman Massoud Setayeshi said thatfour of them were given the death penalty while the remaining received prison sentences of between one to five years.
All of them can appealto the Supreme Court, added Setayeshi.
While 17 were killed drinking the liquor, 191 were left blinded or hospitalised, leading to nationwide condemnation against the perpetrators.
Althoughmost of those hospitalised had been discharged, many had to undergo dialysis and other critical lifesaving procedures, according to Hossein Fazli Harikandi, chief justice of Alborz province.
The authorities at the time raided a cosmetic factory where they seized more than6,000 litres (1,585 gallons) of bootleg alcohol.
Sale of liquor is banned
The sale and consumption of alcohol is banned in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Only Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians are exempt from the alcohol ban. Foreigners are required to respect it.
Alcohol is considered 'haram' in Islam and most Muslim nations have strict rules regarding it.
However, the prohibition in Iran has led to a huge illicit trade of bootleg alcohol with alcohol mafias controlling the underworld market.
Often such bootleg alcohol is adulterated with poisonous methanol.
Methanol cannot be smelled or tasted in drinks. It causes delayed organ and brain damage. Symptoms include chest pain, nausea, hyperventilation, blindness and even coma.
Watch |Iran: Alcohol wrongly touted as COVID-19 cure, hundreds killed
Iran's forensics institute said in March that the country had witnessed a 30 per cent increase in the number of deaths due to drinking bootleg liquor over the last 12-month period.
As many as 644 people lost their lives in 2022 due to alcohol poisoning,
At the beginning of the Covid pandemic in 2020, more than 700 people lost their lives afteringestingtoxic methanol, erroneouslythinking it could cure them.
(With inputs from agencies)
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