PARIS — Rights groups and the
UN on Wednesday
accused Iran of flouting its international obligations after executing a young
man convicted for a murder he was accused of committing as a minor.
اضافة اعلان
Arman Abdolali, 25, was executed over the
killing of his girlfriend in defiance of international pleas for his life to be
spared, after previously being transferred to solitary confinement for hanging
several times, only to see the execution postponed.
"The execution of Arman Abdolali is an
international crime," said Mahmood Amiry Moghaddam, head of Oslo-based NGO
Iran Human Rights (IHR), which monitors executions in Iran.
"Besides being executed for an alleged
offence committed at under 18 years of age which is a violation of
international law, Arman was sentenced to death based on confessions extracted
under torture, without a fair trial and due process," he said in a
statement.
A spokeswoman for the UN Human Rights Office
said it was "deeply alarming and shocking that his hanging went ahead
despite interventions by numerous parties" that included direct contact
between the UN and Iran.
"We also deplore that over the last two
months Abdolali had been transferred to solitary confinement six times ahead of
his scheduled execution, postponed on each occasion before going ahead,"
she added.
Moghaddam also said that the "repeated
transfers for execution and then returning him without any explanation"
constituted "psychological torture".
He called for President Ebrahim Raisi,
judiciary chief before his election this year, to be brought to account for
Abdolali's execution.
IHR said Abdolali confessed at the time of
his arrest, but a body was never found, and he later retracted. It said he was
17 years old at the time of the alleged murder.
Abdolali had been transferred to solitary
confinement at 8 pm Tuesday ahead of execution and was not given the chance of
a final meeting with his family, it said.
Iran executes more people each year than any
nation except China. IHR said at least 64 juvenile offenders have been executed
in Iran over the past 10 years, with at least four executed in 2020.
The New York-based Center for Human Rights
in Iran (CHRI) said Iran was party to both the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights and Convention on the Rights of the Child "but is
still putting juvenile offenders to death."
"We have serious concerns that his case
follows the pattern of child offenders being convicted after a flawed trial and
on the basis of forced confessions," added the UN Human Rights Office.
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