A week after the execution of juvenile offender Behnoud Shojaee, three other child offenders are due to be executed in the coming days: Mohammad Reza Haddadi, Safar Angooti, and Amir Amrollahi. The alleged charge is premeditated murder, committed under the legal age.
Safar Angooti’s execution is scheduled for 21 October. Safar Angooti, is accused of a murder, committed when he was 16.
Iran hanged Behnoud Shojaei on 12 October, the third child offender to be executed in 2009.
Iran is the only country since 2008 to execute child offenders.
Behnoud Shojaee was executed in the early morning of Sunday, Oct, 11th in Tehran’s Evin prison, while tens of human rights defenders were protesting the verdict outside.
Behnoud Shojaee was sentenced to qesas (retribution) by Branch 74 of the Criminal Court in Tehran on 2 October 2006, after he was found guilty of killing a boy called Omid the previous year, when he was 17. Behnoud Shojaee had no legal representation at his trial. This was the sixth time his execution had been scheduled.
Executions of those under 18 at the time of their alleged offence is strictly prohibited under international law.
Iran is the only country in the world that has carried out such sentences within past year.
More than 130 minors are currently awaiting their execution.
Act now to make child executions a thing of the past.