Two teenage boys hanged in Iran

Birmingham Star Thursday 28th August, 2008

Iran has executed two youths who were convicted of murder when they were fifteen years of age.

Both have been hanged in the past week.

Behnam Zaree, who turned 18 this year, was convicted after the death of another teenager in a street fight 3 years ago.

Zaree had pleaded for the foregiveness of the dead teenager's family saying he did not mean to kill him.

The second teenager, Reza Hejazi, was also convicted of murder at the age of 15. He was hanged last Tuesday at the Esfahan central prison. His lawyer was not informed that his execution was to be carried out, though under Iranian law a 48 hour notification period is required.

Reza Hejazi's family were notified that he had been transferred to a cell for those to be executed within 24 hours, and they informed his lawyer, Mohammad Mostafaei. The lawyer reached Esfahan prison at 4.30am, and attempted to find out when the execution was to be carried out. Prison guards informed him that executions normally took place between 7 and 8am. After attempting for several hours to secure a stay of execution, at around 10am Mohammad Mostafaei was told by the officer supervising executions that Reza Hejazi’s execution had been halted. He set off back to his office in the capital, Tehran, a five-hour journey away. While he was travelling, he was informed that Reza Hejazi was hanged at 11am.

The past week's hangings have revived memories of another double-execution three years ago which caused widespread publicity. Two boys, one aged 18 and an underage minor, were imprisoned for fourteen months then lashed 228 times before being hanged by Iranian authorities in the northeastern city of Mashad in 2005.

Within hours of the execution, members of Iran's parliament expressed outrage, not for the deaths of the two teenagers, but at journalists who reported the ages of those who were put to death.

According to Iran Focus News, one member of parliament was dismayed that the focus was on the age of the boys. "Instead of paying tribute to the action of the judiciary, the media are mentioning the age of the hanged criminals and creating a commotion that harms the interests of the state," he said.

The execution of juvenile offenders is prohibited under international law, as stated in Article 6 (5) of the ICCPR and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), of which Iran is a state party to and so has undertaken not to execute anyone for crimes committed when they were under 18.

Since 1990 Iran has executed at least 36 juvenile offenders, including eight in 2007. The two executions in the past week brings the number of juvenile executions to six so far in 2008. A 17 year old boy, Mohammad Hassanzadeh, was hanged by Iran in the western city of Sanandaj in June. No other country is known to have executed a juvenile offender in 2008.

The situation of juvenile offenders facing execution in Iran has reached crisis levels, with at least 132 juvenile offenders known to be on death row in Iran, although the true number could be much higher.