It is hard to imagine a tougher cause in Iran than campaigning against the death penalty, which has strong popular support and which most religious authorities and politicians say is required by Islam.

Yet that is the task Emadeddine Baghi, a former journalist, has set himself in establishing a non-governmental organisation called the Association for the Right to Life. "I have to admit some people I asked to support us, including well-known reformers, refused point blank," he says.