Iranian authorities will continue execution of juvenile offenders

However, according to the Iranian daily Quds, Mr. Hoosein Zabhi had clarified already on Wednesday that the ban did not include those minors who are sentenced to death for murder, that is qesas (or qisas), which means retaliation and is based on the principle of "eye for eye".

In an interview with the Associated Press, Mr. hossein Zabhi clarified the issue further by saying " the judges are still required under Iran’s Islamic laws to issue death sentences for minors convicted of murder if the victim’s family refuses financial compensation".

This means that all the over 150 juvenile offenders on the death row in Iran, will still remain in danger of execution.

Iran is the country with highest number of minor executions, even though the country has ratified UN’s child convention which bans death penalty for offences committed as minors.

So far in 2008, 6 minors have been executed.