Two people previously lashed 160 times for consuming alcohol, have been sentenced to death for repeatedly consuming alcohol under the country's Islamic Shariah law, which forbids the use, manufacturing and trading of all alcoholic beverages.

The two, whose names have not yet been released, had been arrested twice previously and found guilty. A third offense of consuming alcohol is punishable by death, according to Shariah law.

"Two people who committed the offense of consuming alcohol for the third time have been sentenced to be executed," the head of judiciary Seyed Hasan Shariahti, based in Iran's north-eastern province of Khorasan Razavi, told the semi-official ISNA news agency, "The verdict has been confirmed by the Supreme Court and we are preparing to administer it."

Under Islamic Shariah law, specific crimes such as sodomy, rape, theft, fornication, apostasy and consumption of alcohol for the third time are considered to be "claims of God" and consequently have mandatory death sentences.