Juvenile offender hanged in Iran
Washington, 26 August (IranVNC)—Iran executed this morning 18-year-old Behnam Zare, a juvenile offender who was convicted of murdering his friend at the age of 15, the Human Rights Activists in Iran website reports.
By: IranVNC
Published: Tuesday, August 26, 2008
13:20GMT—9:20AM/EST
IRAN – EXECUTION – JUVENILE OFFENDER
Washington, 26 August (IranVNC)—Iran executed this morning 18-year-old Behnam Zare, a juvenile offender who was convicted of murdering his friend at the age of 15, the Human Rights Activists in Iran website reports.
Zare’s case drew attention from the European Union as well as international human rights groups, such as Amnesty International – both of which had called for a stay of execution for this juvenile offender.
The murder allegedly occurred on 21 April 2005, reports Amnesty, when Zare swung a knife during an argument with a man named Mehrdad, who later died from his wound.
A criminal court in the central Fars Province later sentenced Zare to qesas [retribution] on charges of premeditated murder, the report adds. Zare had been held in Adelabad prison in Iran’s southwestern city of Shiraz.
The website, Human Rights Activists in Iran, posted an audio recording of what it says is an undated message by Zare, pleading for his life to be saved.
“I want my voice to be heard by all the responsible officials,” the voice said, adding: “I want to live, I want to be free.”
Today’s execution is the second execution of a juvenile offender in Iran in the last week. On Tuesday, 19 August, 20-year-old Reza Hejazi was hanged in the central city of Esfahan for an alleged murder he committed at the age of 15.
The European Union condemned Hejazi’s execution in a statement released yesterday.
The Presidency of the Council of the EU also called upon Iran to abide by its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which prohibit the execution of minors and of individuals convicted of crimes committed when they were minors. Iran has signed both treaties.
According to the EU statement, Iran has executed five juvenile offenders this year.
Meanwhile, juvenile offender Behnoud Shojaee, a young man who was arrested on charges of murder in June 2005 at the age of 17, still sits on death row in Iran. The Presidency of the Council of the EU called for Iran to suspend his execution in a statement released last week.
On 30 July, nine international human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, again called on Iran to abolish the death penalty for juvenile offenders, saying the situation had reached “crisis levels”.
Sources: Human Rights Activists in Iran website, Presidency of the Council of the European Union website, Amnesty International
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