Iranian teenage offender hanged in Iran capital

Iran Focus: Tehran, Jan. 20 – A young man who was accused of killing a member of Iran’s security forces when he was a minor was hanged in the notorious Evin prison in Tehran.
Iman Farrokhi who was 17 at the time of the offence was on death row in the Tehran Centre for Reform and Education (Juvenile Prison). Iran Focus

Tehran, Jan. 20 – A young man who was accused of killing a member of Iran’s security forces when he was a minor was hanged in the notorious Evin prison in Tehran.

Iman Farrokhi who was 17 at the time of the offence was on death row in the Tehran Centre for Reform and Education (Juvenile Prison).

Farrokhi was said to have fatally stabbed Mohammad Ali Ghasemzadeh, while hiking in October 2000 though he insists that he was forced to act in self defence.

At the time Farrokhi fled the scene but within a month he was apprehended whilst selling liquor. Liquor consumption and distribution are illegal under Iranian law.

The teenager was transferred to the Centre for Reform and Education pending execution upon turning 18. However on February 8, 2001 he escaped from the centre.

At the time, security agents published his photo in national dailies and it was discovered that he was serving time in a prison from November 7, 2002, in the town of Jiroft (southern Iran) for stealing and handling arms.

The acting judge immediately recalled his file to Tehran and issued a death sentence, which was subsequently approved by Iran’s Supreme Court. He was also given a 10 year prison term for having stolen guns and was sentenced to 80 lashes for having consumed alcohol.

Tehran judge, Goreishizadeh announced in December that Farrokhi was to be executed within the next few days.

Mohammad T., another teenager currently in one of Iran’s Centers for Reform and Education, is to also be hanged to death in the coming weeks for allegedly stabbing someone when he was 14.

His sentence was approved by Iran’s Supreme Court, which called for him to be hanged by the end of the Iranian calendar month.

Under Iranian law, girls above the age of nine and boys above the age of fifteen are considered as adults and could be executed for capital offences.

Under increasing international pressure, the Iranian regime keeps children on death row in Juvenile Prison until they turn 18.

At least 30 juveniles are currently on death row in Tehran and Rajai-Shahr (40km west of the Iranian capital) for offences they have been alleged to have committed under the age of 18.

Two other men accused of murder, Valiollah Zareian and Davoud Bagheri, were also hanged on Wednesday in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison while the families of the victims looked on.