By Brian Murphy (Associated Press)

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- The condemned man kissed the rope.
”I am not scared'', Ahmad Dowlatyari shouted to the crowd that assembled at sunrise Monday to watch his hanging. “My life is now over. I want to go with a smile''.

A tow truck's crane rose with a hydraulic hiss. The orange rope stiffened. Dowlatyari (convicted of murdering his crime partner in a fight over stolen gold) gasped once and was dead.

The spectacle of public executions has become commonplace in Iran since the Islamic
Revolution 23 years ago. But this brand of Quranic justice -- and less frequent practices
such as floggings and stonings -- may draw greater outside scrutiny as Iran considers
reopening to U.N. rights inspectors.

The U.N. Human Rights Commission last month lifted its censure of Iran, where reformist President Mohammad Khatami has managed to curb abuses in the intelligence services and other areas. Iran said the decision may open the door for visits by U.N. rights teams, barred since 1996.

For Iran, the issue is highly sensitive: how to retain Islamic codes but avoid anger from abroad?

Iran is particularly worried that growing business contacts with the European Union could become entangled in complaints over public executions and other punishments. Top officials also claim Iran's trade partners are being unfairly pressured by the United States, where 38 states permit the death penalty.

"The United States is using human rights and the fight against terrorism as political tools'', Justice Minister Ismail Shoushtari said Sunday during a meeting with a Chinese court official.

At least 139 documented executions were carried out in Iran last year (publicly or in prisons)
compared with 75 in 2000, but both figures could be "considerably higher'', according to the London-based rights group Amnesty International. Iran does not release death penalty statistics.

In the United States, there were 66 executions last year, compared to 85 in 2000. The United
States has been harshly criticized by its European allies for allowing capital punishment.
Abolishing the death penalty is a requirement for membership in the 15-member EU.

Public floggings -- for offenses such as drinking alcohol -- still take place but are much less
common than before Khatami came to office in 1997. Stoning for adultery and other social violations have not occurred since the mid-1990s.

Khatami's backers say such punishments hurt Iran's international image and reflect badly on Islam.

Meanwhile, some notorious inmates have been hanged in prison rather than in public, apparently to
avoid possible clashes between reformers and conservatives. Last month, judges in the eastern city
of Mash-had called off plans to publicly hang a serial killer who stalked prostitutes. The sentence was
carried out in the prison yard.

But serious dissent surrounding hangings is not heard. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, who wields complete power, has said anyone opposing executions should face the same punishment.

At Monday's hanging on a dirt-covered soccer field, many agreed it is an essential element of Iran's
Islamic system.

"This is what happens to criminals'', said Abbas, 29, who gave only his first name. "This is what
the Quran dictates''.

About 500 people, nearly all men, gathered before dawn in a gritty south Tehran district. Some women and children watched from rooftops and nibbled freshly baked bread.

Riot police circled the tow truck. Its crane was lowered and the rope was tied to a hook. A prison
warden tugged hard twice to test it.

A court officer read a Quranic verse over the speaker of a police squad car. Guards nudged along
the handcuffed prisoner, wearing plastic sandals and baggy gray pants. They took no chances. He had
escaped from custody at least four times.

Just as the sun rose, the noose was fitted and the crane's arm jerked upward. Dowlatyari's body
dangled for a half hour as people drifted home and children prepared for school.

Some in the crowd turned away from the body and whispered a funeral prayer from the Quran: We are from God and we return to God. 

According to documents that are in possession of Amnesty International, the barbaric punishment of stoning has been carried out at least twice within the last year and 35 people have been executed so far this year in Iran. ENDS EXECUTIONS 21502