Iran secretly executed two children
Amnesty International has reported that Iran secretly executed two teenagers in secret. This is a violation of international law and the right of children.
Amin Sedaghat and Mehdi Sohrabifar were cousins aged 17 years. They were executed on 25 April in a prison facility located in the city of Shiraz. This was wrong because they were not allowed to face fair trial in a court of law. These two boys were convicted on numerous rape charges.
According to Amnesty International, the two boys were arrested in 2017 when they were aged 15 years. An observation indicated that their bodies had lash marks on them. This means that they had been flogged to their deaths.
It’s unfortunate that the two boys were not provided with legal representation. They were beaten when held at the police detention center following their arrest.
Their families were kept in the dark as the boys were transferred from a juvenile correction center to a prison. The families of the two teenagers were allowed to visit the boys but they were never informed that they were to be executed. They only leant about the cruel act the following day when they were asked to collect their bodies for burial.
Read More: 10 worst oil spills ever
Iran has in the past been accused for using capital punishment on juniors. In fact Iran is “one of the world’s biggest executioners.” In 2018 alone, Iran executed five children.
According to a report released by Amnesty International, Iran is only second to China in terms of number of executions.
International human rights law prohibits the use of death sentence for people under the age of 18 as at the time when a crime is committed. This is an attack on the children’s rights.
Human rights lobby groups are calling upon Iranian parliamentarians to amend their penal code to stop death penalty on children aged below 18 years at the time of the offense or crime.
