Mediaboss Marketing

Saman Naseem, now 22, is scheduled to be executed on Thursday despite Iran signing international treaties prohibiting the death penalty for crimes committed while an offender is a juvenile. Photograph: Private

Human rights activists have urged Iran to halt the imminent execution of a young man convicted of taking up arms against the state when he was under 18.

Saman Naseem, now 22, is scheduled to be executed on Thursday after being found guilty of moharebeh (enmity against God) for his alleged membership of PJAK, an armed Kurdish opposition group, and alleged involvement in a gun battle with Irans Revolutionary Guards near Sardasht, a city in West Azerbaijan province.

Naseem, who was 17 at the time of his arrest in July 2011, appeared on Irans state television later that year, saying he had shot at members of the elite military unit. He is being held in Orumiyeh prison in north-west Iran.

Activists said Naseem retracted his confession during his trial and that it was made under duress. Iran has signed the international treaties which prohibit the execution of those convicted of crimes committed when they were juveniles.

Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty Internationals deputy director for Middle East and North Africa, called on Iran on Monday to halt the planned execution of Naseem and launch a thorough review of his case.

Imposing the death penalty on someone who was a child when the alleged crime took place goes against international human rights laws that Iran has committed to respect, she said.

This is the reality of the criminal justice system in Iran, which makes a mockery of its own statements that it does not execute children and upholds its obligations under the convention on the rights of the child.

Irans penal code prohibits death penalty for juveniles for offences whose punishment can be administered at the discretion of the judge, such as drug offences. But a death sentence may still be applied if he or she has committed crimes considered to be claims of God and, therefore, have mandatory sentences such as moharebeh, sodomy, rape, theft.

Last week, Amnesty published a letter written by Naseem and sent out of jail, in which he describes in distressing detail his time in prison.

Read the original here:
Iran urged to halt execution of juvenile offender | World ...