NCRI – In the latest string of hanging juveniles in the mullahs' Iran, there are three new teenagers awaiting their turn to face gallows. Reza Hajzadeh has allegedly committed a crime when he was only 13.
He spent five years among common criminals in a maximum security prison in Tehran. Seyed Vahid Mousavi was 17 at the time of the alleged crime and now is in line to face gallows soon in the notorious Gohardasht prison, 40 kilometer west of Tehran. The third teen is Benyamen Rasouli, also held in Gohardasht; he was 16 at the time of the alleged crime.
Amir Amrollahi is the fourth juvenile to face execution in the near future. EU rotary president, France expressed deep concern over human rights conditions in Iran. The European Union accordingly condemned the execution on 22 July 2008 of "Mr. Hassan Mozafari and Mr. Rahman Shahidi, who were minors at the time of the acts for which they were convicted."
"The European Union is deeply concerned by reports that Mr. Amir Amrollahi, sentenced to death for crimes committed when he was a minor, is shortly to be executed.
"This death sentence flagrantly contravenes the international obligations and commitments of the Islamic Republic of Iran as set out in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, both of which prohibit the execution of persons convicted of crimes committed when they were minors," the statement added.
According to rights groups 114 youths face gallows for the crimes allegedly committed when they were minors. The youngest is a 13-year-old boy named Ahmad Nowroozi sentenced to death by the mullahs' judiciary three years ago in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan.
