Two more juveniles to be executed on Wednesday

According to attorney Mohammad Mostafaei, juvenile offenders Amir Khaleghi and Safar Angooti are scheduled to be executed this Wednesday May 6th in Iran.

Stop Child Executions has been in contact with the office of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, arbitrary or summary executions of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on Khaleghi’s case over the last few months. They are well aware of his case and are taking action.

According to Mostafaei:

Amir Khaleghi was 16 years old, when he bought alcohol from a drug store, mixed it with orange juice and became drunk. He saw some friends hanging out on the street sidewalk close to a vendor and jokingly told the vendor not to sell anything to the other kids. A fight broke out, without premeditation, one of those involved in the fight Ali Malekpour was stiked in the chest and was killed. Amir Khaleghi does not remember how the incident happend. He says he wandered around until he was sober and felt very sad and remorseful for what had just taken place. He went to the city of Qom and later to Jamkaran where he turned himself into police. He explained his drinking matter and what he remembered of the incident. Branch 74 convicted him to “ghesas” (murder) which was confirmed in branch 27 of the Supreme Court.

His state appointed lawyer Mr. Sayed Ahmad Mobarragh worked hard to defend Amir, but his efforts were fruitless. According to Mr. Mostafaei, Amir was convicted despite the court taking into consideration that he was intoxicated, he was a juvenile offender and the fact that it is in breach of article 37 of the conventions that the council of experts had approved in oppostion to him being tried for “ghesas.

The head of Judiciary granted a two month stay of execution for Amir Khaleghi in February; however his execution is scheduled to take place in a couple of days.

Safar Angooti who was convicted of murder at age 17, is also scheduled to be executed this Wednesday after having spent a couple of years in prison.

According to Etemad daily on April 27th 2008, 17-year-old Safar Angooti stabbed a rival suitor who was talking to a girl he liked and was sentenced to death by a court in Tehran. He said “I have killed him but not intentionally. I did this because I was inexperienced and I was angry. I asked the family of the victim to forgive me but the victim’s father said that I had killed his son Mehdi and deserve the punishment.” The father of the deceased said “I don’t know the reason why they got into a fight but Safar has killed my son and he should be killed”.

Iran is a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which prohibit the use of the death penalty against people convicted of crimes committed when they were under 18.

“We just lost Delara Darabi a few days ago, we don’t want to lose anymore precious lives” said President of Stop Child Executions Nazanin Afshin-Jam. “How many more children have to be executed, in direct breach of the ICCPR and CRC before those responsible are held accountable?”

Stop Child Executions urges the international community to take action and send your appeals to:

APPEALS TO:

Head of the Judiciary

Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi

c/o Director, Judiciary Public Relations and Information Office

Ardeshir Sadiq

Judiciary Public Relations and Information Office

No. 57, Pasteur St., corner of Khosh Zaban Avenue

Tehran, Iran

Email: info@dadiran.ir (In the subject line write: FAO Ayatollah Shahroudi)

Salutation: Your Excellency

Judiciary spokesperson