Amnesty International Flags Iran's Inhumane Execution of Juveniles and Kangaroo Courts

The Iranian regime is set to execute another man arrested as a juvenile, Amnesty International reports. According to the right group, Hamid Ahmadi has been placed in solitary confinement in Lakan prison in the capital of Gilan Province, and is awaiting his execution on February 4. The report notes that Ahmadi was 17 years old when Iranian authorities arrested him on charges of fatally stabbing a young man during a fight in 2008.

The Amnesty report published on January 30 adds: “This is the third time that Hamid Ahmadi has been scheduled to be executed and subjected to the mental anguish of being transferred to solitary confinement in preparation for his execution. The last time this occurred was in May 2015 when his execution was halted at the last minute due to public pressure. Following this, he was granted a retrial based on new juvenile sentencing provisions in Iran’s 2013 Islamic Penal Code. However, the Provincial Criminal Court of Gilan Province sentenced him to death for the second time in December 2015.”

Rights groups have repeatedly condemned the death sentence for Ahmadi and other juvenile convicts based on unfair trials and forced confessions without having access to a lawyer. Ahmadi has said the “confessions” were obtained under physical and mental torture.

Ahmadi’s case is just the tip of the iceberg in Iran’s appalling number of executions based on unfair trials. It is also a grim reminder that President Hassan Rouhani has not fulfilled his 2013 election promise to improve the country’s human rights record. According to the United Nations and international rights groups, Iran remains one of the leading executioners of juvenile offenders. An Amnesty International report published a year ago documented that the Iranian regime had executed at least 73 juveniles from 2005 to 2015, and that 160 juveniles were languishing on the country’s death row.