Amnesty International issues appeal to save Iranian teenager from execution
Amnesty International has issued an appeal calling for urgent action regarding the situation of Daniyal Zein-El-Abedini, an Iranian teenager facing execution. The international organization says Daniyal Zein-El-Abedini is at risk of execution in Mahabad Prison for a crime that occurred when he was 17 years old.
According to Amnesty International, executing Daniyal Zein al-Abedini, who is now 18 years old, violates the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, treaties to which Iran is a signatory.
By issuing this call, this human rights organization called on people and human rights activists around the world to write a letter to the head of the judiciary in their own words and with inspiration from this call, reacting to this sentence of this Iranian teenager and demanding that the death sentence of this Iranian teenager be stopped.
In the proposed letter, Amnesty International called on the Iranian authorities to take the necessary measures to amend Article 91 of the Islamic Penal Code by proposing new legal regulations, so that the death penalty for crimes committed by persons under the age of 18 is completely abolished without any conditions or restrictions by the courts and without any other considerations or exceptions, in line with Iran's obligations under international law.
Seyyed Daniyal Zein al-Abedini, born on August 9, 2000, was arrested when he was 17 years old on charges of participating in the murder and arson of Sadeq Barmaki along with three other young men that occurred on September 21, 2017, and was sentenced to death by Mahabad Criminal Court 1. This verdict was confirmed by Branch 37 of the Supreme Court.
In May of this year, Amnesty International announced in a report that Iran alone has been responsible for 97 executions of children under the age of 18 in the world since 1990, which is equivalent to two-thirds of all such executions.
Amnesty International has documented 90 cases of people who were under 18 at the time of the crime and are currently on death row in Iran, although the actual number is likely higher.
Source: Voice of America
