A judge in Iran told a man, who was possibly innocent, that he would go to heaven if he is  wrongly executed.

“If you're innocent you'll go to heaven,” said the judge after sentencing to death 34-year-old Reza Hosseini for a crime he denied committing.

Hosseini was among four other prisoners who were hanged to death on May 3 at Ghezel Hesar Prison of Karaj in Iran. Despite repeatedly claiming his innocence, Hosseini, a resident of Kuhdasht, was first detained in Tehran’s central prison Fashafaviye, before being sentenced for drug related offences. In the first 70 days of his imprisonment, Hosseini had already been subjected to beatings and brutal interrogations before finally being transferred to Ghezel Hesar Prison.

According to his wife Azadeh Geravand, Hosseini was arrested after getting involved in a physical altercation with authorities in the parking lot of their residence. Apparently, the drugs had been recovered from the neighbour’s home.

“We were not allowed to visit him until he was transferred to Ghezel Hesar Prison. But, even then, we weren't granted our first visit with him until after 11 months of imprisonment. When we realized his death sentence was to be carried out, Reza's mother and I somehow managed to drive 840 kilometres to Ghezel Hesar Prison to see him for the last time. But, once we arrived, the authorities did not allow us to visit him. Instead, they hurled insults at us,” she said.

Geravand said the prosecutor in her husband’s case promised that he would be exonerated but at the time of trial, which last only two minutes, Judge Tayerani mercilessly sentenced him to death.

Reportedly, the judge urged Hosseini to plead guilty, to which he protested, “Why should I plead guilty if I am innocent?”

That is when Tayerani responded, “If you are innocent, then you will go to heaven after you are hanged.”

Photo Credits: Metro UK