Human rights groups urge Iran to halt juvenile executions
Published: Wednesday, July 30, 2008
11:25GMT—7:25AM/EST
IRAN – JUVENILE – EXECUTIONS
Washington, 30 July (IranVNC)—Nine international human rights groups yesterday called on Iran to end death sentences for juvenile offenders, saying the situation of juvenile offenders in that country has reached “crisis levels”.
“Iran’s insistence on executing juvenile offenders in the face of international law and international protests portrays an image of a judicial system bent on the application of state violence against juvenile offenders, but unconcerned about justice or international law,” the statement said.
“The situation of juvenile offenders facing execution in Iran has reached crisis levels, making Iran’s violation of international standards much greater than any other country,” the statement cautions.
Iran executed eight minors in 2007 and four more this year, the groups said, adding that no other country is known to have executed a minor this year.
The groups, which include Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, strongly condemned Iran’s continuing execution of juvenile offenders and urged Iran’s parliament to quickly abolish this “cruel and inhumane” practice.
Two juvenile offenders, Hassan Mozafari and Rahman Shahidi, were executed on 22 July in Iran’s southern city of Bushehr. The two had been convicted of rape, along with three other men, who were executed last year, the statement said.
As a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Iran is obligated to end such death sentences. According to the statement by the nine human rights groups, there are at least 132 juvenile offenders on death row in Iran.
The groups also protested the mass execution of 29 individuals in Tehran’s Evin prison on Sunday, saying that the act “invokes a grotesque image of Iranian judges”.
“It is abhorrent that there is no information about those executed and it raises serious concerns about due process and the rule of law,” the groups said.
According to Amnesty International, Iran executed 317 individuals last year, second only to China in numbers of executions committed. The group reports that Iran has executed 191 individuals so far this year, making it likely to maintain its ranking, “although its population is 18 times smaller than China’s”.
Source: Human Rights Watch website
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