Iran to continue executing minors

As this report indicates, though Iran had claimed it was going to commute juvenile executions, it has not. Same thing happened in 2004: Iran said it would ban the executions of minors, but failed. Welcome to taqiyya land (Shia Iran) where lying to bide time -- such as when Iran insistis it wants nukes simply for energy (until it actually gets them) -- is a constant prerogative vis-a-vis gullible infidels.

"Iran youth hangings 'to continue'," from the BBC, October 20:

A senior judicial figure in Iran has cast doubt on reports that Tehran will stop executing juveniles.

Deputy prosecutor general Hossein Zebhi told a newspaper that under Sharia law only a murder victim's family could commute a death sentence.

He had suggested last week that judges were being told to stop imposing the death penalty on young offenders.

Iran has been widely condemned for being one of the few remaining nations to execute offenders aged under 18.

Amnesty International says at least six youths have been executed in Iran this year alone.

Mr Zebhi was quoted by the daily Etemad-e Melli newspaper as saying: "The principle of retribution... is not up to the government, rather it is up to the private plaintiff."

"Only if the next of kin give their consent can there be a reduction in the punishment," he added.

Blood money

His earlier comments suggesting a possible ban on juvenile execution had been welcomed by human right campaigners, including Amnesty International.

Critics say Iran's practice of handing down the death penalty to juvenile offenders - those aged under 18 at the time of the crime - is explicitly banned by the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Tehran is a signatory.

Many convicted juvenile offenders have been on death row for years, as negotiations continue over whether victims' families will accept blood money - cash to avoid execution.

6 Comments

darcy | October 22, 2008 9:35 PM

"taqiyya land (Shia Iran)"

Yes, that has a certain ring to it. The ring of Truth.

Jimmy the Dhimmi | October 22, 2008 10:22 PM

We need more dialogue.

joeblough | October 23, 2008 3:28 AM

Considering what all else they let people do to kids, somehow this isn't surprising.

tanstaafl | October 23, 2008 8:18 AM

It's just another form of Islamic population control.

Mo | October 23, 2008 10:15 AM

What a hellish place to live that must be. I cannot even imagine it.

miira | October 25, 2008 7:35 AM

OT . . .IRAN arrests American Women's Rights Activist

updated 5:31 a.m. ET, Fri., Oct. 24, 2008 CAIRO, Egypt - An American university student in Iran to visit family and research women's rights has been arrested and held in prison for more than a week, rights group Amnesty International said.
Esha Momeni, a student at California State University, Northridge, was driving on a highway in Tehran when she was stopped by authorities who said they were traffic police, the London-based Amnesty said.

Iranian officials said Momeni was arrested Oct. 15 for a traffic offense. But Amnesty said in a statement Tuesday she was taken to her family's home where her computer and other materials related to her research on the Iranian women's movement were confiscated Momeni, who is a member of the California branch of Change for Equality — an Iranian women's rights group — was later taken to Evin prison, the Tehran facility notorious for holding political prisoners, Amnesty said.

Her family was told by an Iranian court on Monday that her case was still being investigated, and no details would be released until after the probe was completed, Amnesty said.

Iranian judicial officials have not commented on the case and no other details were immediately available in Iran.

'Concerned'
The university is calling for her release.

"Anyone who values knowledge and the role of academic inquiry in shedding light on the human condition should be concerned," said the university's president Jolene Koester.

In Washington, the State Department said it was aware of reports of Momeni's arrest and was seeking more information.

"We stand with all those in Iran who are working for universal human rights and justice in their countries," deputy spokesman Robert Wood told reporters Wednesday.

Momeni was aware of the risks of her work, said Melissa Wall, her thesis adviser and director of the university's mass communications graduate program.

"We talked about the dangers," Wall said. "But in the end, it was her decision to go. She was interested in communicating to Americans a broader image of Iranian women. She has a lovely presence, she smiled a lot."

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