Iran sentences juvenile offender to death
Published: Tuesday, August 19, 2008
16:00GMT—12:00PM/EST
IRAN – JUVENILE OFFENDER – SENTENCE
Washington, 19 August (IranVNC)—Iran’s Judiciary approved the death sentence for a juvenile offender who was convicted for a murder he allegedly committed while under the age of 18, Kargozaran Newspaper reports today.
The young man, identified only as Amir, was arrested in November 2005 at the age of 16 after he “unintentionally stabbed a young man to death” in a fight in the southern city of Shiraz.
Iran’s Judiciary approved the death sentence passed by a court in Shiraz.
Amir is expected to be hanged in the next few days, the report says.
The latest death sentence comes on a wave of executions and death sentences of juvenile offenders in Iran.
Earlier today, 20-year-old Reza Hejazi was executed in Esfahan for a crime he allegedly committed at the age of 15. And yesterday, the death sentence against Amir-Karim Bahrami [21], who was 17 when he was convicted of murder, was approved by Iran’s court of appeals. He awaits imminent execution in a prison in Mahabad in Iran’s Kurdistan Province.
Iran has faced widespread criticism for its continued execution of juvenile offenders. Iran is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention of the Rights of the Child, both of which outlaw this practice.
International bodies, including the European Union, and human rights groups have repeatedly called on Iran to abolish the death penalty for juvenile offenders.
On 30 July, nine international human rights groups reiterated this demand, saying the situation of juvenile offenders in Iran has reached “crisis levels”.
Sources: Kargozaran Newspaper
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