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There has been a postive development in the case of Ali Mahin-Torabi the young boy facing execution of the death of his school mate Mazdak at the age of 16 and and there is a possibly that he could even be found innocent of the charges. Etemaad newspaper detailed the testimony of the Vice Principle of the school who gave insight about the incidents leading up to an argument between classmates that ended in the death of Mazdak. He testified that Ali Mahin is not a murderer. He said he believed that a fight ensued when Mazdak was late for school on that particular day therefore Ali Mahin and his friend who were assigned to ensure security of the school yard that day enacted their responsibility and brought him to the Principles office. Mazdak and Ali Mahin's friend had an argument over the matter. When school was finished for the day, another fight broke out and the Vice Principle saw students pushing each other and some fell on the ground. He said he then noticed Mazdak was bleeding and Ali Mahin kept urging for someone to get him to a hospital. When the principle asked who did it, he believes Ali Mahin answered in haste that he had done it in order not to waste any time and to ensure Mazdak was sent to the hospital without any further delay. The Vice Principle believes that no one intended to commit murder that day, rather he believes it was an accident that occurred in the scuffle.

The Vice Principle's testimony has not officially been placed in the file, however if further investigation is carried out, this testimony could shift the outcome for better.

Etemaad also had reported that Ali was scheduled to be executed in 15 days. This morning Stop Child Executions Campaign was able to talk to Ali's mother and we have verified that Etemaad's scheduled execution report was inaccurate and Ali's execution order has not been issued. Although Ali was told by prison officials that some prisoners may be executed after the Shia holy month of Moharam , but no specific official notice of Ali's execution has been issued and therefore he is not expected to be in the list. SCE Campaign will continue to report the news from Iran with reference to the sources as we received them, however we will not confirm their validity until it is independently verified.

We remain hopeful that the new development and the witness testimony would help save Ali from execution. Ali's attorney Mohammad Mostafei who was assigned by SCE Campaign is presently in the city of Shiraz handling the case of three other juveniles facing execution and upon return will look in to this matter further. For more information about the case visit: //www.stopchildexecutions.com/the_row.aspx and //scenews.blog.com//Ali+Mahin-Torabi/

To help save Ali from execution read : //www.stopchildexecutions.com/how-you-can-help.aspx