Iran’s Controversial Execution of a Teenager Following Coerced Confession

Iran has been accused of executing a teenage boy who was allegedly forced to confess to a murder charge.

According to documents obtained by Iran Human Rights, 17-year-old Hamidreza Azari was hanged in Sabzevar prison after being convicted of killing a man during a brawl.

It is alleged that Azari gave a “forced confession” aired on state media, in which his age was reported to be 18.

The non-profit group based in Norway claimed that the Persian-language satellite TV channel Iran International reported that Azari, despite his age, was the only child in his family and had been working for years as a scrap worker.

Both Iran Human Rights and the Kurdish-focused rights group, Hengaw, stated that he was 16 years old at the time of his alleged crime and 17 when he was executed.

The killing of Azari and 22-year-old Milad Zohrevand, who were executed on the same day, was condemned by the UN Human Rights Office, which urged the Islamic Republic to end its use of the death penalty.

Iran’s Death Penalty Practices

Iran is one of the few countries in the world that uses the death penalty for juvenile offenders under 18, even though such executions are prohibited by international law. It is the world’s second most-prolific in carrying out executions, after China.

According to the UN, minorities are “disproportionately sentenced to death.”

Iran Human Rights reported that over 680 people have been executed in the country so far this year. Zohrevand was the eighth person known to have been executed in Iran over nationwide protests that broke out in September 2022.

The demonstrations were sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, who was arrested for allegedly flouting the country’s strict hijab rules.

Zohrevand’s trial was criticized for lacking due process under international human rights law. Zohrevand’s parents were also reportedly arrested after his execution.

The protests that erupted over Amini’s death posed one of the boldest challenges to Iran’s theocracy since the 1979 Islamic revolution and quickly escalated into calls for the overthrow of the country’s clerical rulers, who were accused by many young protesters of being corrupt, repressive, and out of touch.

Thousands were arrested and hundreds wounded amid the demonstrations.

Iran’s government blamed the protests on a foreign conspiracy, without providing evidence.

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