2 yıl önce

Iran sparks outrage after executing man convicted of murder as a minor

Human rights groups say that confessions were extracted under torture and that the crime was committed when Arman Abdolali was 17, a minor.

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At least 64 juvenile offenders have been executed in Iran over the past 10 years, with at least four executed in 2020, according to IHR.

Rights groups and the UN have accused Iran of flouting its international obligations after executing a young man convicted for a murder he was accused of committing as a minor.

Arman Abdolali, now 25 years old, who was sentenced to death by an Iranian court for murdering his girlfriend in 2014, was executed at Rajaei Shahr Prison in the city of Karaj on Wednesday.

"The execution of Arman Abdolali is an international crime," said Mahmood Amiry Moghaddam, head of Oslo-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR), which monitors executions in Iran.

He called for President Ebrahim Raisi, judiciary chief before his election this year, to be brought to account for Abdolali's execution.

A spokesman for the UN Human Rights Office said it was "deeply alarming and shocking that his hanging went ahead despite interventions by numerous parties" that included direct contact between the UN and Iran.

'Confessions under torture'

IHR said Abdolali confessed at the time of his arrest, but a body was never found and he later retracted.

"Besides being executed for an alleged offence committed at under 18 years of age, which is a violation of international law, Arman was sentenced to death based on confessions extracted under torture, without a fair trial and due process," he said in a statement.

He was previously being transferred to solitary confinement for hanging six times as what IHR called a form of "psychological torture".

He not given the chance of a final meeting with his family, the organisation said.

A spokesperson for EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said, "The European Union condemns this execution in the strongest terms."

The EU "recalls yet again that death sentences for crimes committed by persons below the age of 18 are contrary to international obligations under the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child", he said.

Iran is a party to both, the statement added.

SOURCE: TRTWorld and agencies