![](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2007\/06\/teens-execution-iran1.jpg\" "\\"teens-execution-iran1\\"")
LONDON (AFP) – Amnesty International appealed for Iran to stop executing children and those who committed their crimes before they turned 18, in a report published Wednesday.
The London-based human rights group said that 71 children, indicted for a variety of offences, were awaiting the death penalty in Iran, and added that Iran had executed the most minors of any country in the world since 1990.<\/p>\n
In that time 11 children were executed while they were still legally minors, and a further 13 were killed after remaining on death row until they had reached their 18th birthday before being hanged, Amnesty said.<\/p>\n
“Iran stands virtually alone as a country in which child offenders\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u0082\u00ac\u00e2\u0080\u009dpersons under 18 at the time of the crime of which they were convicted\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u0082\u00ac\u00e2\u0080\u009dare put to death,” Malcolm Smart, the director of Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa programme, said in a statement.<\/p>\n
“It is high time that the Iranian authorities put an end to this shameful practice\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u0082\u00ac\u00e2\u0080\u009dfor once and for all\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u0082\u00ac\u00e2\u0080\u009dand bring themselves in line with the rest of the international community, which has long recognized the obscenity of executing those who commit crimes while children.”<\/p>\n
Teheran denies that it executes children.<\/p>\n
Amnesty, however, said that as recently as a month ago, Said Qanbar Zahi, 17, was executed, while another youngster, 19-year-old Mohammad Mousavi, who was sentenced to death aged 16, was executed in April.<\/p>\n
Other than Iran, the only countries that have executed minors since 2003 are China, Sudan and Pakistan, Amnesty said, calling on Teheran to order a moratorium on all child executions and to amend existing laws so that no child who commits a crime can face capital punishment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONDON (AFP) – Amnesty International appealed for Iran to stop executing children and those who committed their crimes before they turned 18, in a report published Wednesday. The London-based human […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30971,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[175],"class_list":{"0":"post-3751","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-human-rights","8":"tag-updated"},"yoast_head":"\n