An Iranian court allowed a gang of rapists, responsible for five rapes, to go free. According to Tabnak.ir, the rapists were caught one night in June when a young woman ran into a Pakdasht Police Station, covered in blood, because she had been sexually assaulted. She died later that night in the hospital, but not before identifying the rapists.

Police have since uncovered four other rapes that were committed by the same culprits. While they could face execution for these crimes, they’ve been set free because the victims’ families “pardoned” them.

Pouya Nematollahi, an Iranian blogger, questioned this court ruling in his June 17 blog post:

“Who would believe that parents could forgive their child’s rapists and murderers so easily? Maybe the rapists threatened to kill them, to rape other family members, or to post videos of the rape of their loved ones on the internet. Maybe they were offered a lot of money. There are many possibilities, but what ever the reason was, these rapists and murderers are a danger to society and they should have not be free.”