Post by Anja Nieser on Oct 1, 2006 6:13:45 GMT -5
No One Too Young in Iran
In Iran it is difficult to figure out when a person is considered an
adult. According to Article 49 of the Islamic Penal Code the age of legal
responsibility is 9 years for girls and 15 for boys. Youngsters of both
sexes, however, have to wait until they are 16 to vote in elections, and
18 to open a bank account, get a driver's license, or sell property in
their names.
They can be hanged at any age.
A girl known only as Nazanin, 17, turned herself in to police 6 months ago
after she stabbed and killed 1 of 3 assailants who she says were trying to
attack her and her 14-year-old niece. Nazanin was found guilty of murder
and sentenced to death. She has appealed the verdict, Etemad Melli
newspaper reported on Aug. 31.
In September, the same newspaper reported the execution of a youth,
Sattar, in Tehran's Evin prison. He had killed a young man when he was 17,
in a brawl over a public telephone booth.
Sattar was not hanged until he turned 18, but that has not stopped
international bodies and human rights organisations within and outside
Iran from condemning the Islamic state for the practice.
"Iran is the only country which still executed minors in 2005," Piers
Bannister, coordinater of the death penalty team at Amnesty International
in London, told IPS by telephone.
"The international community has recognised that children are special and
require special attention," Bannister added. "The world is united on this
matter."
As a signatory of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the
International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, Iran has agreed
not to execute anyone for offences committed when they were under the age
of 18. But it has repeatedly ignored the conventions.
Since 1990, Amnesty International has documented 19 prisoners who were
children at the time of their alleged crimes yet have been hanged.
Groups like the UN Child Rights Committee, Amnesty and Hands Off Cain,
among others, have called on Iran to abolish the death sentence for
children. To mask their deed, these groups charge, the Tehran government
typically postpones the execution until the prisoner is 18, or lies about
the prisoner's age.
Rights groups also charge that Iran, which is the second only to China in
the frequency of executions, also tends to sentence women to death for sex
offences, whereas men are more likely to face lashings because, according
to Shari'a law, men can have many temporary wives.
"Boys are at least luckier to be legally responsible only from the age of
15. But can you imagine a 10-year-old girl being sentenced to death for
sex which usually comes in the form of rape at first, and goes on because
the child is not able to fully comprehend the situation and is scared to
tell anyone? Or an 11-year-old girl being hanged for killing someone?" a
women's rights activist, wishing not to be named, told IPS.
In 2004, Atefeh Sahaaleh Rajabi was hastily tried and hanged in Neka in
northern Iran. Her case drew international attention because she had no
access to legal counsel. Although court documents said she had been 22 at
the time of her hanging, her birth certificate and her father's identity
information later proved she was only 16.
Sahaaleh was found guilty by the state of having unlawful sex four times.
Human rights activists, however, say the girl suffered psychological
problems and was repeatedly raped by a 51-year-old man, according to an
Amnesty International report and a BBC documentary. She was hanged. He was
sentenced to 100 lashes.
"The judge who tried her didn't take that into account, and when she
appealed, the Supreme Court upheld the sentence anyway. Atefeh's family
sued the judge after she was hanged but he has been acquitted," Nasrin
Sotoudeh, a lawyer and children's rights activist, told IPS.
Since Sahaaleh was hanged, Amnesty International has documented at least
nine more children executed by the state. In addition, Kaveh Habibnezhad,
14, died after being flogged. The boy had been caught eating in public
during the month of fasting, a social worker from a state-run juvenile
correction facility told IPS on the condition of anonymity.
Iran's Shari'a-based law conflicts with international law. International
law does not allow executions for sex-related crimes. Shari'a does. In
sex-related cases, even if there are no private plaintiffs, defendants are
still prosecuted by the state, which acts as the guardian of public
morals. When a defendant confesses to a crime or when the sufficient
number of witnesses prescribed by Islamic law testifiy to the act, the
sentences are automatic.
When Iran's reformist Parliament tried to raise the age of marriage to 18
for both sexes a few years ago, the move was vetoed three times by the
6-member clerical Guardian Council. The Council must give the final
authorisation to parliament legislation, ascertaining that laws conform to
Shari'a.
Parliament was insistent, and the case was referred to a higher body with
legislative powers, the Expediency Council, set up to arbitrate between
the 2 bodies. 18 months later, the Expediency Council finally raised the
age of marriage for girls to 13 after much deliberation.
Homicide and sex-related offences, such as incest, adultery, prostitution
or homosexuality, are the leading crimes for which adults and minors alike
can be sentenced to death. Rarely, death sentences are meted out for
drug-related charges. In a murder case, the family of the victim has
'blood rights' under Shari'a laws. This gives them a choice between asking
for diye (blood money) or qisas (retribution by killing).
"The family of the murderer can pay compensation to the family of the
victim in lieu of execution. The murderer then walks free. The rich can
get away with murder, the poor die," Bannister said. If the victim's
family waives its right to qisas, the defendant still must serve a 10-year
sentence for the public side of the offence.
Zhila and Bakhtiar Izadyar, a brother and sister from western city of
Marivan, were found guilty of incest when their baby was born in 2004. The
children had been turned in to the police by their disgraced father.
Information on their case is also scarce, but according to newspaper
reports, the court that tried them sentenced Zhila to death and her
brother to jail and lashes.
Campaigns to save her life and international pressure led Judiciary Chief
Ayatollah Shahroudi to interfere in the case. In absence of private
plaintiffs, he used his authority to reduce the sentence to lashes, which
she received shortly before her child was born.
"The head of the Judiciary has expressly told UNICEF (UN Children's Fund)
people here that if defendants sentenced to death for homicide send their
cases to him after the final legal stages are taken, he would stop the
sentence from being carried out," a lawyer not wishing to be named told
IPS.
Shahroudi has in the past intervened in at least one other case involving
a juvenile.
The Judiciary head, however, cannot pardon a person found guilty of
homicide -- even if that person is a child.
"He can only keep the cases in a pending state meanwhile, so the relevant
laws need to change to put an end to this," the lawyer said.
(source: IPS)
In Iran it is difficult to figure out when a person is considered an
adult. According to Article 49 of the Islamic Penal Code the age of legal
responsibility is 9 years for girls and 15 for boys. Youngsters of both
sexes, however, have to wait until they are 16 to vote in elections, and
18 to open a bank account, get a driver's license, or sell property in
their names.
They can be hanged at any age.
A girl known only as Nazanin, 17, turned herself in to police 6 months ago
after she stabbed and killed 1 of 3 assailants who she says were trying to
attack her and her 14-year-old niece. Nazanin was found guilty of murder
and sentenced to death. She has appealed the verdict, Etemad Melli
newspaper reported on Aug. 31.
In September, the same newspaper reported the execution of a youth,
Sattar, in Tehran's Evin prison. He had killed a young man when he was 17,
in a brawl over a public telephone booth.
Sattar was not hanged until he turned 18, but that has not stopped
international bodies and human rights organisations within and outside
Iran from condemning the Islamic state for the practice.
"Iran is the only country which still executed minors in 2005," Piers
Bannister, coordinater of the death penalty team at Amnesty International
in London, told IPS by telephone.
"The international community has recognised that children are special and
require special attention," Bannister added. "The world is united on this
matter."
As a signatory of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the
International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, Iran has agreed
not to execute anyone for offences committed when they were under the age
of 18. But it has repeatedly ignored the conventions.
Since 1990, Amnesty International has documented 19 prisoners who were
children at the time of their alleged crimes yet have been hanged.
Groups like the UN Child Rights Committee, Amnesty and Hands Off Cain,
among others, have called on Iran to abolish the death sentence for
children. To mask their deed, these groups charge, the Tehran government
typically postpones the execution until the prisoner is 18, or lies about
the prisoner's age.
Rights groups also charge that Iran, which is the second only to China in
the frequency of executions, also tends to sentence women to death for sex
offences, whereas men are more likely to face lashings because, according
to Shari'a law, men can have many temporary wives.
"Boys are at least luckier to be legally responsible only from the age of
15. But can you imagine a 10-year-old girl being sentenced to death for
sex which usually comes in the form of rape at first, and goes on because
the child is not able to fully comprehend the situation and is scared to
tell anyone? Or an 11-year-old girl being hanged for killing someone?" a
women's rights activist, wishing not to be named, told IPS.
In 2004, Atefeh Sahaaleh Rajabi was hastily tried and hanged in Neka in
northern Iran. Her case drew international attention because she had no
access to legal counsel. Although court documents said she had been 22 at
the time of her hanging, her birth certificate and her father's identity
information later proved she was only 16.
Sahaaleh was found guilty by the state of having unlawful sex four times.
Human rights activists, however, say the girl suffered psychological
problems and was repeatedly raped by a 51-year-old man, according to an
Amnesty International report and a BBC documentary. She was hanged. He was
sentenced to 100 lashes.
"The judge who tried her didn't take that into account, and when she
appealed, the Supreme Court upheld the sentence anyway. Atefeh's family
sued the judge after she was hanged but he has been acquitted," Nasrin
Sotoudeh, a lawyer and children's rights activist, told IPS.
Since Sahaaleh was hanged, Amnesty International has documented at least
nine more children executed by the state. In addition, Kaveh Habibnezhad,
14, died after being flogged. The boy had been caught eating in public
during the month of fasting, a social worker from a state-run juvenile
correction facility told IPS on the condition of anonymity.
Iran's Shari'a-based law conflicts with international law. International
law does not allow executions for sex-related crimes. Shari'a does. In
sex-related cases, even if there are no private plaintiffs, defendants are
still prosecuted by the state, which acts as the guardian of public
morals. When a defendant confesses to a crime or when the sufficient
number of witnesses prescribed by Islamic law testifiy to the act, the
sentences are automatic.
When Iran's reformist Parliament tried to raise the age of marriage to 18
for both sexes a few years ago, the move was vetoed three times by the
6-member clerical Guardian Council. The Council must give the final
authorisation to parliament legislation, ascertaining that laws conform to
Shari'a.
Parliament was insistent, and the case was referred to a higher body with
legislative powers, the Expediency Council, set up to arbitrate between
the 2 bodies. 18 months later, the Expediency Council finally raised the
age of marriage for girls to 13 after much deliberation.
Homicide and sex-related offences, such as incest, adultery, prostitution
or homosexuality, are the leading crimes for which adults and minors alike
can be sentenced to death. Rarely, death sentences are meted out for
drug-related charges. In a murder case, the family of the victim has
'blood rights' under Shari'a laws. This gives them a choice between asking
for diye (blood money) or qisas (retribution by killing).
"The family of the murderer can pay compensation to the family of the
victim in lieu of execution. The murderer then walks free. The rich can
get away with murder, the poor die," Bannister said. If the victim's
family waives its right to qisas, the defendant still must serve a 10-year
sentence for the public side of the offence.
Zhila and Bakhtiar Izadyar, a brother and sister from western city of
Marivan, were found guilty of incest when their baby was born in 2004. The
children had been turned in to the police by their disgraced father.
Information on their case is also scarce, but according to newspaper
reports, the court that tried them sentenced Zhila to death and her
brother to jail and lashes.
Campaigns to save her life and international pressure led Judiciary Chief
Ayatollah Shahroudi to interfere in the case. In absence of private
plaintiffs, he used his authority to reduce the sentence to lashes, which
she received shortly before her child was born.
"The head of the Judiciary has expressly told UNICEF (UN Children's Fund)
people here that if defendants sentenced to death for homicide send their
cases to him after the final legal stages are taken, he would stop the
sentence from being carried out," a lawyer not wishing to be named told
IPS.
Shahroudi has in the past intervened in at least one other case involving
a juvenile.
The Judiciary head, however, cannot pardon a person found guilty of
homicide -- even if that person is a child.
"He can only keep the cases in a pending state meanwhile, so the relevant
laws need to change to put an end to this," the lawyer said.
(source: IPS)