Iran Executions: Third Juvenile Execution in a Month

Iran Human Rights (Feb 1, 2018): IHR has identified the prisoner who was executed on Tuesday at Noshahr Prison as Mahbubeh Mofidi. The juvenile-offender was 17 when she committed the crime. 

Iran Human Rights (IHR) had reported the execution of a woman on Tuesday, January 30. Further research revealed that the executed woman was named Mahbubeh Mofidi who was 17 at the time of the crime.

Mahbubeh Mofidi murdered her husband with the help of her brother-in-law on December 17, 2013, a month after their marriage ceremony. 

The juvenile offender was arrested a few months after the murder when the result of forensic toxicology was issued.

This is the third execution of a juvenile-offender in January 2018 which is confirmed by Iran Human Rights (IHR) organization. The executions of Ali Kazemi and Amir Hossein Pourjafar, who committed murder at the age of 15 and 16 respectively, were also reported by the IHR.

The executions of Mahbubeh Mofidi and Ali Kazemi has not been announced by the state-run media so far.

Death penalty for offences committed under 18 years of age is banned by the international laws, but Iran refuses to stop the execution of juvenile offenders. This is a violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child which Iran has ratified.

Iran Human Rights (IHR) demands the international community to condemn the execution of juveniles in Iran and try to put an end to this inhumane punishment.

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the spokesperson for IHR says, “We expect the European Union and Norway, which besides being the main opponents of the death penalty on the international arena have good relations with the Iranian authorities, to condemn the recent executions and to put the issue of juvenile executions on top of their agenda in the talks with the Iranian authorities”.