The hangman who botched the execution of a drug smuggler in Iran earlier this month might not get a chance to finish him off after all.


The country's justice minister says there is "no need" to re-hang the man, who was pronounced dead by a doctor after 12 minutes at the end of a rope but was found alive in the prison morgue the next day.


The minister says hanging the man a second time would hurt the country's image, although the final decision will be left to the courts, the BBC reports. And the courts may not have to ponder the bizarre case: The man, a 37-year-old father of two, reportedly fell into a coma yesterday.