Iran: Four young people face execution

AKI: Four young people, who were minors at the time their alleged crimes were committed, are expected to be hanged in the next few days.

AKI – Adnkronos International

Tehran, 18 August (AKI) – Four young people, who were minors at the time their alleged crimes were committed, are expected to be hanged in the next few days.

Reza Hajizadeh, who at the age of 13 accidentally killed a playmate during an argument, turned 18 recently and was immediately transferred to death row in Rajaishahr prison on the outskirts of Tehran.

Vahid Mussawi, arrested at 17 and Benjamin Rasouli, arrested when he was only 16, are also there on death row after being accused of homicide.

Amir Karim Bahram, arrested four years ago at the age of 17, has also been transferred to death row at a prison in Mahabad, in Iran's Kurdish region. He was sentenced to death for taking part in a brawl in which a person was killed.

There are a total of 30 young people who are awaiting execution after being sentenced to death for crimes allegedly committed before their eighteenth birthday.

Iran is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, an international convention that supports the political, economic and cultural rights of children. It forbids the capital punishment of children.