17-year-old Hamidreza Azari was executed at Sabzevar central prison on Friday for alleged murder. The execution of the juvenile offender was highly condemned by international rights groups.
“We remind Iranian authorities of their obligation, under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to prohibit death sentences and their implementation for crimes committed by individuals below the age of 18,” said UN human rights office spokesperson Liz Throssell.
Milad Zohrevand, 22, was also executed last week, on the basis of accusations holding him responsible for the killing an agent of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) during the 2022 nationwide protests. Amnesty reported that Zohrevand had been denied access to a lawyer and that he was executed without prior notice being given to his family.
The spokesperson said that they were also troubled by Zohrevand’s execution as his trial had “lacked the basic requirements for due process under international human rights law.”
Most of those who are executed in Iran are convicted on the basis of confessions condemned by rights groups as being often obtained under duress.
The human rights office urged the Iranian government to establish a moratorium on executions, and called on Tehran to stop using “criminal procedures” to punish political activists.
Iran executed at least 576 people last year, a significant increase from the 314 executions carried out in 2021, making it the country with the second highest rate of known executions in 2022, according Amnesty International’s annual report on the subject. Executions for drug-related offences increased by 93 percent.
This year, after last fall's widespread demonstrations and a crackdown on the drug trade, Iran has carried out an alarming number of executions. The Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) estimated more than 350 people were executed in the first six months of 2023.
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