July 23
IRAN:
Laureate Condemns Hanging of Iranian Boys
Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi on Saturday condemned the hanging of 2
teenagers accused of raping younger boys in northeastern Iran, a
punishment that also prompted protests by the international community and
rights groups.
Last week's hangings of an 18-year-old and 16-year-old on charges of
involvement in homosexual acts violated Iran's obligations under the
International Convention on the Rights of the Child, which bans such
executions, Ebadi said.
Ebadi said her Center for the Protection of Human Rights will intensify
its fight against Iran's executions of minors.
"My calls for a law clearly banning execution of under-18s has fallen on
deaf ears so far but I will not give up the fight," Ebadi told The
Associated Press.
Mahmoud Asgari, 16, and Ayaz Marhoni, 18, were hanged publicly July 19 in
the city of Mashhad on charges of raping younger boys. They said before
their executions that they were not aware that homosexual acts were
punishable by death.
Asgari had been accused of raping a 13-year-old boy. His lawyer, Rohollah
Razaz Zadeh, said Iranian courts are supposed to commute death sentences
handed to children to 5 years in jail.
"The judiciary has trampled its own laws," Razaz Zadeh told the AP.
But the lawyer said Iran's Supreme Court upheld the verdict and allowed
the execution despite his objections.
Gay rights groups, such as the London-based Outrage!, and Iranian
opposition groups suggested the rape allegations were trumped-up charges
aimed to undermine public sympathy for the teenagers.
In Sweden, Foreign Ministry spokesman Per Saland said the government was
"looking very seriously" at the hangings.
"We are against the death penalty and we particularly react when it comes
to the execution of minors, pregnant women and the mentally disabled,"
Saland said.
The Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay and Transgender Rights posted a
photo on its Web site showing hooded executioners tightening ropes around
the suspects' necks.
The group's chairman, Soren Andersson, called on Sweden's government not
to deport gay and lesbian asylum seekers back to Iran.
"Sweden has turned gay and lesbian refugees back to Iran and they should
know that these people could be killed," he said.
Being gay or lesbian should be enough for refugees to remain in Sweden and
not be returned to Iran, he added.
Ebadi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, has campaigned to protect
the rights of children and improve human rights in Iran but has met stiff
resistance from the judiciary, which is controlled by hard-liners.
The Iranian government last year refused to give Ebadi permission to stage
a rally to protest children's executions.
Under Iranian law, girls older than 9 and boys older than 15 face
execution if they commit crimes such as murder and rape. Under certain
conditions, capital punishment is imposed for those engaging in illegal
sexual relations.
In 2003, a 16-year-old girl said to be suffering from a psychological
disorder was executed in Neka, a town in northern Iran, on charges of
having an illegal sexual relationship.
While there are no official figures on death sentences given to minors,
human rights activists say about a dozen were executed in Iran last year.
On the Net: Swedish gay rights group: http://www.rfsl.se/?p324&aid2369
(source: Associated Press)
