Children's journey of death

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SCE Campaign
by SCE Campaign
20-Oct-2007
 

Based on a report (in Dari) sent to Stop Child Execution Campaign by the Afghanistan Independent human rights commission (//www.aihrc.org.af/) :

Ghoorian is one of the 15 villages in the Herat province of Afghanistan. The village is located 75 kilometer from city of Herat and near the Iranian border. The villagers are mostly farmers or Sheppard. The area has suffered from many years of war and drought and a group of locals have been making a living from smuggling narcotics to Iran. Due to lack of central government control the drug smuggling business turned to a lucrative business for these armed smugglers (Afghanistan is the largest producer of opium in the world). Extremely poor children (below 18 years of age), some of the war orphans are usually defrauded to help smuggle a form of expensive narcotic known as “Crystal meth' across the border to Iran.

The smugglers place about 200 to 1000 gram of crystal inside a tightly tied cloth covered with plastic and make the children swallow them. Then they cross the children across the border with false passports. As soon as the crystals are swollen the children have to start their journey or the bags could open if not discharged within 24 hours which would lead to the child's death. This method of smuggling was discovered by Iranian border police in the past few years and as a result tens of Afghan children were arrested after crossing the border to Iran. Few children have already been executed by Iranian authorities while the smugglers who used these kids are still freely roaming in the Afghan villages. 

Here is the list of Afghan children (and their age at time of arrest) who are kept in Iranian prisons who may be facing execution sentence:

Mohammad Ehsanv 16 Salimh Shah 15 Abolhadi 16     Farhad 17 Mohammad Yunes 13 Nematollah 17 Moahmmad Ghos 17   (sentenced to death) Mohammad 16 Heydar Rahmani 16 Nasir Ahamad Ghafoori 16 Gholam Mahboob Mohammadi 17 Abolrasul 16 Nasir 16 Younis 16 The above list was only of those under 18 years of age and was gathered from village of Ghoorian and the list does not include all the children from this and many other villages near the Iranian border. These children were sent to Iran with false passports by smugglers who are still freely continuing their activities.

After the children reach the age of 18, their death sentences are expected to be issued. After the execution, the family of the executed children must pay $330,000 Reals ($300) if they want to the children's body shipped back to Afghanistan. Original Report in Farsi Dari: //scenews.blog.com/2209163/

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