Iran flogs then executes two 17 year olds in secret: Amnesty
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iranian authorities secretly executed two 17-year-old boys last week following a flawed trial, according to human rights monitor Amnesty International, which said the sentences reflect a "flagrant disregard" for international law.
Cousins Mehdi Sohrabifar and Amin Sedaghat were executed on April 25 at Adelabad prison in Shiraz, Fars province, southern Iran.
Sources told Amnesty neither the boys nor their families were informed of their imminent execution. The families were only made aware when they were asked to collect the bodies.
Marks on the bodies show they were flogged before they were executed, Amnesty said.
"The Iranian authorities have once again proved that they are sickeningly prepared to put children to death, in flagrant disregard of international law," said Philip Luther, Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa director.
"It seems they cruelly kept these two boys in the dark about their death sentences for two years, flogged them in the final moments of their lives and then carried out their executions in secret."
Amnesty says the legal process that led to their prosecution for rape was deeply flawed. The boys were held without charge for two months, beaten, and not given access to a lawyer. Child offenders are also entitled to the presence of a parent or guardian during questioning, which the boys were not granted.
It is illegal to execute people who committed crimes while under the age of 18, according to international law.
"The use of the death penalty against people who were under 18 at the time of the crime is strictly prohibited under international human rights law and is a flagrant assault on children's rights," said Luther.
"It is long overdue for Iranian parliamentarians to put an end to this harrowing situation by amending the penal code to ban the use of the death penalty against anyone who was under 18 at the time of the offence."
Iran is the world's top executer of children, killing 97 between 1990 and 2018. More than 90 others remain at risk of execution, Amnesty says.
Although the number of executions worldwide fell from at least 993 in 2017 to at least 690 in 2018, Iran is still among the world's most prolific executioners, according to Amnesty's 2018 global review of the death penalty.
Iran has the world's second highest rate for 2018 with at least 253 executions, second only to China.
Iran's execution rate has fallen by 50 percent in the past year as a result of changes to its drugs law, Amnesty says, but the Islamic Republic still accounts for more than one third of executions recorded globally.
Four Kurds were executed by the Iranian government late last year.
Neighbouring Iraq is also among the world's top five executioners. Baghdad has drawn criticism for its execution of alleged Islamic State (ISIS) members after trials that rights agencies have condemned as rushed and unfair.
Kurdistan Region authorities imposed a de facto moratorium on the death penalty in 2008, which essentially blocks its use except for terror-related charges or "exceptionally heinous crimes".
Kurdish law requires the president to sign death sentences before they can be carried out. Since 2008, the death penalty has been carried out in just four cases. Most recently, a Kurdish man and his two wives, convicted of abducting and murdering two schoolgirls, were hanged in November 2016.
Human rights groups have urged the Kurdistan Region to abolish the death penalty permanently and commute them to life in prison. However, public support for the practice remains high.
Cousins Mehdi Sohrabifar and Amin Sedaghat were executed on April 25 at Adelabad prison in Shiraz, Fars province, southern Iran.
Sources told Amnesty neither the boys nor their families were informed of their imminent execution. The families were only made aware when they were asked to collect the bodies.
Marks on the bodies show they were flogged before they were executed, Amnesty said.
"The Iranian authorities have once again proved that they are sickeningly prepared to put children to death, in flagrant disregard of international law," said Philip Luther, Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa director.
"It seems they cruelly kept these two boys in the dark about their death sentences for two years, flogged them in the final moments of their lives and then carried out their executions in secret."
Amnesty says the legal process that led to their prosecution for rape was deeply flawed. The boys were held without charge for two months, beaten, and not given access to a lawyer. Child offenders are also entitled to the presence of a parent or guardian during questioning, which the boys were not granted.
It is illegal to execute people who committed crimes while under the age of 18, according to international law.
"The use of the death penalty against people who were under 18 at the time of the crime is strictly prohibited under international human rights law and is a flagrant assault on children's rights," said Luther.
"It is long overdue for Iranian parliamentarians to put an end to this harrowing situation by amending the penal code to ban the use of the death penalty against anyone who was under 18 at the time of the offence."
Iran is the world's top executer of children, killing 97 between 1990 and 2018. More than 90 others remain at risk of execution, Amnesty says.
Although the number of executions worldwide fell from at least 993 in 2017 to at least 690 in 2018, Iran is still among the world's most prolific executioners, according to Amnesty's 2018 global review of the death penalty.
Iran has the world's second highest rate for 2018 with at least 253 executions, second only to China.
Iran's execution rate has fallen by 50 percent in the past year as a result of changes to its drugs law, Amnesty says, but the Islamic Republic still accounts for more than one third of executions recorded globally.
Four Kurds were executed by the Iranian government late last year.
Neighbouring Iraq is also among the world's top five executioners. Baghdad has drawn criticism for its execution of alleged Islamic State (ISIS) members after trials that rights agencies have condemned as rushed and unfair.
Kurdistan Region authorities imposed a de facto moratorium on the death penalty in 2008, which essentially blocks its use except for terror-related charges or "exceptionally heinous crimes".
Kurdish law requires the president to sign death sentences before they can be carried out. Since 2008, the death penalty has been carried out in just four cases. Most recently, a Kurdish man and his two wives, convicted of abducting and murdering two schoolgirls, were hanged in November 2016.
Human rights groups have urged the Kurdistan Region to abolish the death penalty permanently and commute them to life in prison. However, public support for the practice remains high.