A man who killed his wife and daughter to elope with his lover was hanged in Iran Sunday in front of thousands of people. Spectators started gathering at dawn in freezing temperatures in front of Tehran's Ghasr Prison to watch the hanging of Hasan Feelom, 39. Feelom was convicted of killing Fatemeh Ahangaran, 24, and their 19-month-old daughter Melika on Aug. 9. Among the spectators were Ahangaran's parents, who had chosen not to exercise their right under Islamic law to pardon the killer. "I insisted that he be hanged publicly hoping it would be a lesson to the youth here to control their passion," said Ahangaran's mother, Fezzeh Roudgar. Feelom, handcuffed and dressed in a gray prison uniform, was led out of the prison to a crane mounted on a truck. A red noose was placed around his neck. The crowd fell silent as a judicial official ordered the crane driver to hoist Feelom. Some spectators murmured verses from the Muslim holy book, the Quran, as his body was lifted 30 feet off the ground. It remained suspended for 10 minutes. Ahangaran's father, Nasrollah, said his daughter had prepared hot food and tea for Feelom and was waiting for him to come home on the day of the killings. "This barbaric man cruelly killed her with a knife, even her little daughter," her father said. "I think he fairly deserved to be punished like this."