The Iranian authorities must immediately halt the implementation of a death sentence for juvenile offender Salar Shadizadi, Amnesty International said on Friday.
The execution of Salar Shadizadi, 24, who was jailed and sentenced to death for a crime committed when he was just 15 years old, was originally scheduled for August 1 and then postponed to August 10 after an international outcry.
“Carrying out the execution of Salar Shadizadi would be a deeply tragic blow to Iran’s obligations under international human rights law, which strictly prohibits the use of the death penalty for crimes committed by persons under the age of 18. To carry out an execution while a judicial review of the case is being sought would also be a slap in the face of justice,” said Said Boumedouha, Acting Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International.
“The Iranian authorities are shirking their responsibilities by sentencing Salar Shadizadi to death and claiming afterwards that his fate is in the hands of the families involved. They must immediately quash his sentence and grant him a fair retrial without resorting to the death penalty,” said Said Boumedouha.
“At least 72 juvenile offenders are believed to have been executed in Iran between 2005 and 2014 and at least 160 juvenile offenders are believed to be on death row. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child is scheduled to review Iran’s implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in January 2016,” Amnesty International said in a statement.
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