Three men were publicly executed in Yemen, after they raped and killed a 10-year-old boy

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Shocking photos show the men, dressed in blue overalls, handcuffed and surrounded by Yemeni soldiers as crowds watched their public execution take place in city's streets.

Authorities ordered the rapists to lie down on the floor, pointing a gun to their head, before shooting them five times in the heart.

The rapists' dead corpses were propped up by in the air by a crane, in Sana'a, Yemen, publicly displayed in front of crowds, serving as a firm warning to anyone who dared commit such crimes.

Capital punishment in Yemen is legal, and the country has one of the highest execution rates per capita in the world.

Sharia law is applied in Yemen, and serves as the basis for all legislation in the country.

Capital crimes include violent acts like murder, rape or terrorism or in cases of "Hudud" offences under Sharia law such as adultery, sexual misconduct, sodomy, prostitution, blasphemy and apostasy.

Kidnapping, violent robbery, drug trafficking and treason can also possibly carry a death sentence depending on the circumstances.

Shooting is the only form of execution carried out in Yemen, though stoning, hanging and beheaded are permitted under Yemeni penal code.

The group were hung by a crane in public, as crowds snapped photos with their mobile phones

Yemen is also one of the four countries left in the world that allows capital punishment for minors.

In 2013, Mohammed Haza'a was put to death by the Yemeni government after he shot an intruder at his home in the central Yemeni city of Tiza in 1999.

The man later died from his injuries.

Despite judges ruling the killing as self-defense and that Mohammed was under eighteen at the time, the Yemen court eventually sentenced him to death.

Soldiers crowded around the men, ordering them to lie down on the ground before shooting them

George Abu Al-Zulof, a child protection specialist at UNICEF, described how Yemeni firing squads carry out death penalty procedures.

He said: "They put them on the ground, they cover them with the blanket and then a doctor comes and points around the heart from the back side. Then they shoot three to four bullets [into] the heart." Around 53 countries in the world still practise the death penalty - including Saudi Arabia.

Yesterday, Saudi Arabia crucified a man who stabbed a woman to death.

The convicted fellons were hung to warn members of the public from committing such crimes

Yemen has one of the highest execution rates per capita in the world

On Wednesday, Elias Abulkalaam Jamaleddeen entered a Myanmar woman’s home with a gun before stabbing her.

The men was then sentenced to a beheading, supporting by King Salman and Saudi's supreme court.

He was publicly beheaded and his body was put on display on a cross in Mecca.

Crucifixions are rare in Saudi, even though the state is one of the world's top executioners.

In pictures: Muhammad al-Maghrabi execution Mon, July 31, 2017 GRAPHIC CONTENT: Muhammad al-Maghrabi, 41, was shot by police who opened fire with a machine gun at a public square in Sana'a, Yemen. Mr al-Maghrabi was convicted of raping and killing three-year-old Rana Yahya Al-Matari Play slideshow EPA 1 of 9 Yemeni soldiers escort defendant Muhammed al-Maghrabi