Iran ranks first in the world in child death sentences

The International Federation for Human Rights said in a report Thursday that “no one is immune” from the death penalty in Iran, as it was carried out against more than 190 people in the first nine months of 2020, according to him.

Iran comes directly after China in the ranking of countries that use the death penalty, and the International Federation assures that it carried out at least 251 punishments in 2019 based on unofficial figures obtained by this non-governmental organization, which publishes its report on 10 October, International Day against the Death Penalty.

The report, prepared in cooperation with a local human rights defense organization (LDHHI), says that “the vast majority of crimes subject to the death penalty in Iran do not fall within the definition of“ very serious crimes. grave ”of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The report refers to a series of cases recorded in recent years of people executed for homosexuality, alcohol consumption and adultery. It notes that “Iran ranks first in death penalty (sentences) that affect children,” adding that “juveniles are often handed a death sentence and they are waiting for them to be executed at 18” .

The case of Arsalan Asni is an example of this, according to the authors, referring to a young man in his thirties who was executed on the 17th of the past in Urmia (west), and had been detained since the age of ten after his grandparents were killed. . The International Federation for Human Rights says 90 minors expected a similar fate in 2019.

The report concludes that “the death penalty is also used against ethnic groups, such as the Kurds, Arabs and Baluchis, but also against religious minorities, Sunnis, Bahá’ís and Yarsani (Ahl al-Haq).”

The death penalty is carried out mainly by hanging in prisons and cranes are used if carried out in public places.

The International Federation stresses that defendants are often tried “on the basis of vague accusations and confessions generally made under torture or as a result of ill-treatment to which they are subjected before trial”.

The report, which calls for a moratorium on the death penalty, says: “The Iranian authorities are used to harassment and prosecution of lawyers charged with defending those sentenced to death. Some of them, like Nasrin Sotoudeh, winner of the Sakharov Prize. European Union 2012, are imprisoned for their work. Anti-punishment activists are often repressed. “