Iranian Human Rights Organization responds to judiciary's claim regarding execution of two teenagers
Following the claim by Iranian judicial authorities that two teenagers executed in Shiraz were over 17 years old, the Iranian Human Rights Organization denied this claim by publishing images of the individuals' identity cards.
On Tuesday, May 7, the Iranian Human Rights Organization published images of the identity cards of the two teenagers and announced that "both teenagers were about 17 years and 6 months old at the time of the execution of the sentence."
Mehdi Sohrabifar and Amin Sedaghat were executed on Thursday, May 25, 2019, in Adel Abad Prison in Shiraz, Fars Province, despite human rights sources reporting that the individuals were under the age of 18. However, Gholamhossein Esmaeili, a spokesman for the judiciary, denied yesterday that the two individuals were 17 years old.
However, Mahmoud Amiri Moghadam, spokesman for the Iranian Human Rights Organization, said about these executions: "In the past 5 years, nearly 40 child criminals have been executed in Iran, most of whom were between 15 and 18 years old when they committed the crime, and Iran is the largest executioner of children in the world."
According to him, Iran's judicial system is so opaque that it does not announce more than 70 percent of executions carried out and is unwilling to respond to human rights reports.
Earlier, the United Nations condemned the execution of the two teenagers and called on Iranian authorities to "immediately" halt the execution of those who committed crimes as children.
Source: Voice of America
