[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 27



IRAN:

Iran youth who killed love rival faces execution - media


A 17-year-old Iranian youth who knifed and killed a rival suitor for a
girl has been sentenced to death by a court in Tehran, a newspaper said on
Sunday.

The accused attacked the victim after finding out he was talking to the
girl in question, the Etemad daily said.

"I have killed him but not intentionally," the young man, identified only
with his first name, Safar, told the court.

"I did this because I was inexperienced and I was angry. I ask them (the
family of the victim) to forgive me," he said.

But the victim's father said Safar had killed his son Mehdi and deserved
the punishment. "I don't know the reason why they got into a fight but
Safar has killed my son and he should be killed," he said.

Amnesty International has called Iran "the last executioner of children",
referring to people convicted of crimes committed when they were under the
age of 18.

The rights group said in a report published in June last year the Islamic
Republic had executed more child offenders than any other country since
1990. In many cases, it said, convicted offenders were kept in prison and
executed after they turned 18.

U.S.-based Human Rights Watch in December said Iran was known to have
executed 2 juvenile offenders earlier in 2007, accusing the country of
flouting its human rights obligations.

Iran rejects the criticism. It says it implements Islamic law, sharia,
under a system in place since the 1979 revolution.

Murder, rape, adultery, armed robbery, apostasy and drug smuggling are all
punishable by death in Iran.

European governments and Western rights groups have criticised Iran for an
increasing number of hangings since authorities launched a clampdown on
"immoral behaviour" in July.

Amnesty last week listed the Islamic state as the world's 2nd most
prolific executioner in 2007, after China. It said in a report Iran had
executed at least 317 people last year compared with at least 470 in
China.

(source: Reuters)

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Drug traffickers hanged in Iran Iran hanged 2 convicted drug traffickers
in a prison in the central city of Qom on Sunday, the Fars news agency
reported.

The first man, identified only as M.N., 47, had been sentenced to death
last year for purchasing and keeping 240g of heroin.

"This man had been arrested several times for dealing in different types
of narcotics since 1985," head of the public relations department of Qom's
prosecution office, Hadi Torshizi, was quoted as saying.

The other man, 56, was identified by the initials Gh. A. and arrested in
May last year for trafficking opium in a truck disguised with watermelons,
Torshizi said.

The hangings bring to at least 72 the number of executions in Iran so far
this year, according to an AFP count.

Human rights watchdog Amnesty International said on Monday that in 2007
Iran made more use of the death penalty than any other country apart from
China, executing 317 people during the year.

Capital offences in Iran include murder, rape, armed robbery, drug
trafficking and adultery.

Many executions were held in public last year, but judiciary chief
Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi ordered in January that there should
be no more public executions without his approval.

There have been no reports of any public hangings since then.

(sources: SAPA---AFP)