According to the International Covenantion on Civil and Political Rights, the death penalty is prohibited for persons under 18 years of age!
According to Article 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the death penalty is prohibited for children under the age of 18!
The Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) has signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child, but in compliance with its sharia laws, it brutally executes juveniles accused of murder when they were under the age of 18.
Over the past 41 years, the judiciary has sentenced more than 500 children under the age of 18 to death, held them in death row, and later executed them.
Last week, the IRI killed three other young men who had been sentenced to death when they were under the age of 18.
Shayan Saeedpour was a 17-year-old teenager who was jailed on the charge of murder six years ago. He was forced to confess under psychological and physical torture and be sentenced to death. Last month, Shayan joined other prisoner’s riot in the Kurdish city of Saqqez to escape the Coronavirus outbreak. Unfortunately, Shayan was captured again and returned to prison, where he was executed yesterday. This week, a number of other insurgent prisoners were executed in Saqqez and Sanandaj.
On Saturday, April 8, Majid Ismailzadeh was executed in Ardabil Prison. He was arrested in 2012 and sentenced to death on a charge of murder under the age of 18.
The third prisoner was Daniel Zina al-Abedini, who was sentenced to death when he was under 18 years old. Daniel was beaten and killed by prison officials in Miandoab Prison in West Azerbaijan Province.
The Islamic rulers in Iran know that the people are aware of the role of the IRI in the outbreak of Coronavirus and will soon return to the streets to protest against this regime. Executing prisoners is a preventive tactic for the Islamic Republic in order to intimidate people.
Protesters have not remained silent in the face of these crimes. Last week, hundreds of people gathered in front of Saqez Prison to save the lives of those sentenced to death. Many anti-execution activists went to visit the victim’s family and asked them to forgive Shayan and not to become accomplices to the Islamic Republic’s crime. The victim’s mother wanted to go to prison and pardon Shayan, but the Islamic Republic’s agents prevented her from entering the prison so that they can go ahead and end the life of one more human being.
We must strongly protest the IRI’s crimes against children. We must express our sincere condolences to the families of the victims and ask them not to fall into the bloody trap of retribution and crime of the Islamic Republic by relying on their humanitarianism.
The Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran considers the execution a premeditated murder by the state, and strongly opposes the execution, this medieval crime under any pretext.
We call on the people to stop the execution machine of the Islamic Republic by protesting against the death penalty and especially the issuance of the death penalty for children.
Campagin to Free Political Prisoners in Iran (CFPPI)
April 22, 202
