[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 4




IRAN----juvenile executions

2 Baluchi Juvenile Offenders Executed in Iran


According to close sources, 2 Baluchi prisoners were hanged to death at Yazd 
Central Prison on drug related charges.

The executions were reportedly carried out on Monday February 1. According to 
the Baloch Activists Campaign, the names of the prisoners are Khaled Kordi and 
Moslem Abarian. A relative of Khaled Kordi confirms to Iran Human Rights that 
both prisoners were under the age of 18 at the time of their arrests. Iranian 
authorities carried out the executions without informing the family members of 
the prisoners.

The 2 prisoners were reportedly riding a bus to work when they were arrested by 
Iranian authorities for drug offenses. The relative tells IHR that he believes 
Khaled and Moslem were innocent and the drugs were planted on them by someone 
else on the bus.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Iran is a signatory of, 
bans death sentences for offenses committed under the age of 18.

(source: Iran Human Rights)

********************

U.N. panel rebukes Iran for allowing sex, execution at 9 years old


Iran must reform its laws that allows girls as young as nine to be executed for 
crimes or forced into sexual relations with older husbands, a United Nations 
watchdog said on Thursday.

Iran continues to execute children and youth who committed a crime while under 
18 years of age, in violation of international standards, the U.N. Committee on 
the Rights of the Child said, after its 18 independent experts reviewed Iran 
and 13 other countries.

"The age of criminal responsibility in Iran is discriminatory, it is lower and 
lower for girls, that is to say 9 lunar years while for boys it is 15. At 9 a 
girl can marry, even if the law sets the age at 13," said Hynd Ayoubi Idrissi, 
a panel member.

9 lunar years in the Iranian calendar is equivalent to 8 years and 9 months, a 
U.N. spokeswoman said.

The age for boys having criminal responsibility is 15, but the age for girls at 
9 is "extremely low", Idrissi said.

The experts deplored that Iran "allows sexual intercourse with girls as young 
as 9 lunar years and that other forms of sexual abuse of even young children is 
not criminalised". They called for the age of sexual consent to be raised to 
16.

"The Committee is seriously concerned about the reports of increasing numbers 
of girls at the age of 10 years or younger who are subjected to child and 
forced marriages to much older men."Girls suffered discrimination in the 
family, in the criminal justice system, in property rights, and elsewhere, 
while a legal obligation for girls to be subject to male guard6ianship is 
"incompatible" Tehran's treaty obligations, the panel said.

Iran made "positive progress" last year with a new Criminal Procedure Code that 
introduced juvenile courts, but nevertheless there were very serious concerns, 
the panel's chairman Benyam Mezmur told a news briefing.

"The age of criminal responsibility is very low and there are instances where 
the death penalty can apply for persons below the age of 18 or for offences 
they committed while below the age of 18," Mezmur said.

There were no figures for the number of executions of children or juvenile 
offenders, nor those imprisoned, due to secrecy surrounding the cases, he 
added.

(source: Reuters)






BAHRAIN:

European Parliament condemns death penalty, torture in Bahrain


The European Parliament has condemned the use of torture and the death penalty 
in Bahrain, demanding the release of a man sentenced to death after allegedly 
confessing under torture.

In a resolution passed on Thursday, the body called on Bahraini ruler Sheikh 
Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa to pardon 32-year-old airport guard Mohammed Ramadan.

Ramadan was arrested on 18 February 2014 - allegedly without a warrant - on 
suspicion of involvement in a bombing that killed a member of the security 
forces 4 days earlier.

Ramadan and Husain Ali Mossa, who had been arrested previously, reported that 
they were tortured into confessing to the crime, and later retracted their 
confessions and complained of having been coerced.

Despite this, no investigation was launched and the pair were sentenced to 
death in December 2014.

The case has already been highlighted by five UN human rights experts, who in 
August 2014 expressed their concerns over the fairness of the trial to the 
Bahraini government.

A resolution was co-authored by Scottish MEP Alyn Smith, who called it "a 
strong message to our friends in Bahrain that we are confident Bahrain can move 
in the right direction.

"Today, the Parliament firmly condemned the continuing use of torture by the 
security forces against prisoners and the use of Bahrain's anti-terrorism laws 
to punish citizens for their political beliefs."

The resolution has been welcomed by Bahraini human rights organisations, who 
warned on Thursday that Ramadan had exhausted all legal avenues of appeal and 
stands at risk of imminent execution.

(source: middleeasteye.net)