On Wednesday, the Iranian regime hanged a minor, identified as Behnam Zare, whose alleged crime was committed at the age of 15. Roughly a week ago on August 19, 2008, another minor, Reza Hejazi, was hanged for an alleged crime committed at the age of 15 as well.
The Iranian regime is a leader in execution of minors whose alleged crimes have been committed when they were under 18 years of age. No other country in the world has executed a minor this year. Iran is a signatory of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Convention on the Rights of the Child, which are meant to put an end to such executions.
The rapidly increasing number of minor executions is a dire and distressing demonstration of the mullahs’ actions, which are carried out against citizens’ rights and violate international laws. The regime’s trading partners in Europe ignore their moral obligations and continue to trade with such a regime. The volume of trade between the regime and European countries has touched 40 billion dollars a year.
Behnam Zare, the young man hanged by the regime yesterday, was born in 1989 and had stressed that his actions were irresponsible and had led to an accident. His recorded words in prison before his execution took place confirm this. In the recordings, he had said, “My name is Behnam Zare, and I have been incarcerated at the Adel Abad prison in the city of Shiraz for the past three years. I committed murder at the age of 15, and I now regret what I did. I ask all of you, advocates of human rights and free individuals, to save my life. What happened was an accident. I’m pleading that you save my life. I want to live and be free. Right now, I’m spending the last days of my life. I may be taken to the gallows any minute now. Will God approve of the death of a 15 year old? I ask all those who hear my voice, is there anyone who can help me? I want you to communicate my message to the authorities. I call on you to save my life because I want to live.”
Zare’s lawyer and family were not informed of the timing and location of his execution, which is a violation of international laws.
The two hangings in the past week bring the total number of executed minors in Iran this year to six. A human rights organization in Iran has reported that 132 more minors are currently awaiting execution.
The insistence of the Iranian regime’s Judiciary to carry out such suppressive executions continuously and at a fast pace, despite growing calls of protest in Iran and abroad, demonstrates the mullahs’ sheer thirst for blood. There are absolutely no indications that the hangings do solve the fundamental economic and social ills that lead to the crimes being committed.
United Nations representatives have repeatedly called upon the Iranian regime to comply with its international obligations. Behnam Zare was executed a day after a European Union statement condemned the hanging of Reza Hejazi. In its statement, the EU had stressed that the execution was a “blatant violation” of Iran’s international human rights obligations.
The international community’s reluctance to employ effective measures against the Iranian regime, including the imposition of comprehensive economic, diplomatic, weapons, and oil sanctions, has emboldened the regime to persist on its current path.
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Mostafa Naderi is a former political prisoner who spent 12 years in different Iranian regime's jails. He spent five years of his incarceration in solitary confinement and barely escaped the 1988 massacre of the political prisoners in Iran.