Human rights groups condemn Iran on juvenile executions
Washington, 27 August (IranVNC)—International human rights groups have again called on Iran to abolish the death penalty for juvenile offenders, after Iran hanged two such offenders in one week.
By: IranVNC
Published: Wednesday, August 27, 2008
11:00GMT—7:00AM/EST
IRAN – EXECUTIONS – JUVENILE OFFENDERS
Washington, 27 August (IranVNC)—International human rights groups have again called on Iran to abolish the death penalty for juvenile offenders, after Iran hanged two such offenders in one week.
“The insistence of Judiciary officials to carry out these brutal executions in rapid succession, despite domestic and international outcries, only demonstrates a shocking thirst for blood on behalf of the authorities,” Hadi Ghaemi, the spokesperson for the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, said.
Behname Zare, who was charged with murder at the age of 15, was executed yesterday in the southwestern city of Shiraz, while Reza Hejazi, who was also 15 at the time of his crime, was hanged one week earlier, on 19 August in the central city of Esfahan.
Zare’s hanging was the sixth execution of a juvenile offender in Iran in 2008, the New York-based Human Rights Watch reports. According to these groups, no other country in the world has executed a juvenile offender this year.
“Everywhere else, countries are moving to end this abhorrent practice, but in Iran the numbers of death sentences seems to be increasing,” Clarisa Bencomo of Human Rights Watch said in a statement released today.
According to the human rights groups, there are at least 130 juvenile offenders on death row in Iran.
“The number of juvenile executions is rapidly increasing, an alarming and repugnant demonstration of the Iranian government’s utter disregard for the rights of its citizens, and for international law,” Ghaemi said.
Iran is party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, both of which forbid the death penalty for those who committed their crimes while under the age of 18.
Iran says that it does not execute minors, but in some cases, offenders are hanged once they reach the age of 18.
The groups also criticize Iran for failing to inform Zare’s family before his execution. Iranian law requires that an offender’s lawyer be notified 48 hours before the execution.
“The Iranian authorities’ willingness to lie to lawyers and to deprive families of a last chance to see their loved ones only underscores the depravity of these executions,” Bencomo said.
Sources: Human Rights Watch, International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran
© IranVNC 2008. All rights reserved.