Iran hangs youth for murder, stays another execution
Published: Tuesday, July 01, 2008
IRAN – JUDUCUARY – EXECUTIONS
14:34GMT—10:34AM/EST
Washington, 1 July (IranVNC)—Iran hanged a 19 year-old youth today who had been convicted of killing his friend over a debt of 250,000 Rials [about $27], Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting [IRIB] website reports. The individual, identified as Esfahan-resident Hamidreza Q., was charged with stabbing his friend in the heart in May 2006 and convicted of premeditated murder punishable by death according to Iran’s Islamic penal code. IRIB provided no further details about the case.
The latest execution brings the total number for 2008 to 114, Amnesty International reports. Iran executed 317 individuals in 2007, the human rights watchdog said in a recent report, putting it second only to China in the total number of executions.
Earlier this month Iran’s media reported that the government executed Mohammad Hassanzadeh, a 17-year-old boy who was convicted of unintentionally killing his friend in a brawl last year.
Iran has faced international condemnation over the execution of minors. The Islamic Republic is a signatory to the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, which prohibits the execution of minors. But international human rights groups charge that Iran jails underage convicts and executes them after they reach the age of 18.
But Judiciary spokesperson, Alireza Jamshidi, today denied that Iran executes minors. “As I have said before qisas is a religious decree and we do not have execution under the age of 18,” Jamshidi was quoted by Reuters as saying.
Judiciary officials also said the death sentence against another youth in Iran was under review. In a statement last week, the European Union presidency called on Iran to stay the execution of Ahmad Taseb, convicted of murder at the age of 15.
The EU statement also called on Iran to halt the execution of Behnoud Shojaee, convicted of murder by stabbing in 2005; Mohmmad Fadaei, a juvenile offender sentenced to death for a murder he allegedly committed when he was 17 years old; Saeed Jazee, convicted of murder at 17, and Mohammad Zaare.
Iran’s Islamic penal code classifies murder, adultery, rape, armed robbery and drug trafficking as punishable by death and provides for diyeh [payment of blood money to surviving relatives of a victim] in cases of wrongful death. Qisas, or just retribution by death, is carried out when the offender and the victim’s family cannot come to agreement on the payment of blood money.
International human rights groups say Iran uses the death penalty too freely. Iran denies the charge, saying it is an effective deterrent. Alireza Jamshidi today said that Iran tries to prevent the execution of minors by pushing for settlement through payment of diyeh.
Source: Islamic Republic Broadcasting, European Union Website, Reuters, Agence France-Presse
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