Prison authorities in Iran today hanged a man convicted of a series of prostitute killings that exposed the growing networks of drugs and illicit sex in the country.

Iran has sentenced to death a man convicted of killing 16 prostitutes in the holy city of Mashhad.

A man has confessed to killing 16 prostitutes in Iran’s holy city of Mashhad, but three other murders blamed on him were carried out by copycats, a provincial police chief said today.