More of the wonders of religion-dominated governments:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/12/18/wiran118.
xml

Father to hang for being drunk

By Lillian Swift and Alexandra Williams (Filed: 18/12/2005)

A 32-year-old father of two is to be hanged in Iran after his death
sentence for being found guilty of "alcohol consumption" was upheld by
the country's highest court.

Karim Fahimi, 32, is due to be put to death "any day" in what Amnesty
International believes is the first instance of a man facing capital
punishment for public intoxication. The sentence was passed on June 5
by an Islamic court after he was accused of being drunk on several
occasions.

It was then upheld by the Supreme Court, the highest judicial authority
in the country. Under Iran's strict religious law, imposed after the
1979 Islamic revolution, Muslims are forbidden from taking any
intoxicant. The standard sentence for alcohol consumption is 100
lashes. This punishment may be handed down twice but a third conviction
carries the death penalty.

Mr Fahimi, an ethnic Kurd who has two sons aged six and 10, was
sentenced in the city of Sardasht in western Iran. Amnesty
International, which has launched a campaign to save Mr Fahimi, has
recorded 77 executions in Iran this year, although the true figure is
believed to be much higher. Last year there were 159 executions in
Iran, the second highest figure after China.
...
"Any lawyer we have had for Karim has been useless. It is very
difficult to get good legal representation if you have no money."