Amnesty International condemns Iran’s plans to execute 160 minors

Amnesty International slammed Iran in a new report for its plans to execute 160 minors, stressing that the move “reveals Tehran’s hypocrisy”.

The watchdog said in a report published Tuesday that scores of youths in Iran are languishing on death row for crimes committed when they were under the age of 18.

This is not the first time the international organization has condemned Iran for executing minors.

The report stated that Iran has “continued to consign juvenile offenders to the gallows, while trumpeting as major advances, piecemeal reforms that fail to abolish the death penalty against juvenile offenders”.

Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Program Said Boumedouha said: “This report sheds light on Iran’s shameful disregard for the rights of children. Iran is one of the few countries that continues to execute juvenile offenders in blatant violation of the absolute legal prohibition on the use of the death penalty against people under the age of 18 years at the time of the crime.”

“Despite some juvenile justice reforms, Iran continues to lag behind the rest of the world, maintaining laws that permit girls as young as nine and boys as young as 15 to be sentenced to death,” Boumedouha added.