Number of alcohol poisoning victims in Bandar Abbas reaches 59; eight dead
A spokesman for Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences says that over the past two days, eight people in Bandar Abbas have died as a result of consuming homemade alcoholic beverages.
Fatema Norouzian stated that 59 people have been admitted to hospitals due to alcohol poisoning, of which “17” are in critical condition and connected to ventilators.
She noted that 30 of these patients are currently undergoing dialysis.
IRNA news agency reported that over the past four years in Hormozgan Province, at least 31 people have died as a result of consuming homemade alcoholic beverages.
The purchase, sale, and consumption of alcoholic beverages is considered a crime under the laws of the Islamic Republic, and the punishment for consuming it is 80 lashes. However, according to Article 136 of the Islamic Penal Code, if someone commits the same type of crime that carries a prescribed punishment three times and the punishment is carried out each time, the punishment in the fourth instance is execution.
The government’s ban on the purchase and sale of factory-produced alcoholic beverages has led to a surge in illegal alcohol sales, particularly homemade alcohol in Iran, and numerous reports of deaths resulting from the consumption of these types of alcohol are published annually in various provinces.
To date, the exact statistics of annual alcohol consumption in Iran have not been officially announced, but Taghi Rastamanvandi, Deputy Minister of Interior of Iran, said in December of last year that “between 9 to 10 percent of people aged 15 to 64” consume alcohol in Iran and “more than five million people annually consume alcohol in the country”.
Source: Radio Farda
