DPA: The European Union on Tuesday urged Iran to honour its international commitments and halt the imminent execution of three men who killed when they were still minors. Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Brussels – The European Union on Tuesday urged Iran to honour its international commitments and halt the imminent execution of three men who killed when they were still minors.
The case concerns Behnoud Shojaee, Reza Padashi and Hossein Haghi, three juveniles.
'The EU notes that these executions would be a direct contravention of the Islamic Republic of Iran's international commitments, specifically the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child,' the Swedish presidency of the EU said in a statement issued on behalf of all 27 member states.
Both treaties, signed by Iran, prohibit the execution of minors or people who have been convicted of crimes committed when they were minors, the EU said.
According to Stop Child Executions, a pressure group, Shojaee was found guilty of murder in 2006 for stabbing a boy with a shard of glass while trying to stop a fight. Shojaee was 17 years old at the time, and his lawyer argues that his case was never properly investigated.
Haghi was 16 when he committed a similar crime under similar circumstance, while Stop Child Executions did not provide any details about Padashi's murder, which took place when he was 16.
In its statement, the EU called on Iran to consider alternative sentences for juvenile offenders and reiterated its longstanding opposition to the death penalty, noting that 'any miscarriage or failure of justice in the application of capital punishment represents the irreparable and irreversible loss of human life.'
