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Iran hangs teenage boy for crime committed as child |
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Thursday, 21 September 2006 |
Iran Focus
 Tehran, Iran, Sep. 21 – Iranian authorities hanged a teenager in public on Wednesday for a crime he had purportedly committed as a child, state media reported.
The teenager who was hanged in the morning was identified only by his first name Vaheed.
Vaheed had recently turned 18 years old.
He was accused of murder.
Another teenager, identified only as Sina, who had also recently turned 18 had his death sentence suspended at the last minute for a period of two months.
After being taken to the gallows and having the noose put around his neck, the relatives of the individual Sina was accused of murdering called for his hanging to be temporary suspended.
Under Iranian law, boys above the age of fifteen are considered as adults and could be convicted of capital offences. Under increasing international pressure for violations of the rights of the child, the Iranian regime keeps convicted children in juvenile prisons and issues court verdicts only after they turn 18 so as to carry out sentences that would have be handed out if the defendants were adults.
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