Iran is sentencing children and teenagers to death
Before they even reach adulthood, Iran is ending their lives. There are scores of young offenders on death row in Iran, and the authorities are continuing to sentence them to death.
Girls as young as nine can be sentenced to execution; for boys it’s 15. At least 73 young offenders were executed between 2005 and 2015. And the authorities show no sign of stopping this horrific practice.
We have the details of 49 people on Iran’s death row who were under 18 at the time of the crime they are alleged to have committed.
The UN says there are at least 160 such people facing execution in the country. In fact, there are likely to be many more young offenders on Iranian death rows, as use of capital punishment in Iran is often shrouded in secrecy.
Growing up on death row – before they are hanged
Young people condemned to death in Iran spend an average of seven years on death row before being taken out of their cells to be hanged, though in some cases juvenile offenders have spent over a decade on death row.
In a number of cases the authorities have scheduled the executions of juvenile offenders and then postponed them at the last minute, adding to the mental and physical ordeal of imprisonment on death row – a practice that is cruel, inhuman and degrading.
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