Amnesty International and over 20 international...

Amnesty International and over 20 international and regional human rights organisations called on the Iranian authorities to spare the lives of four child offenders facing execution in the country. The joint appeal, issued from Geneva, also called on Iran to stop imposing death sentences on child offenders (those aged below 18 at the time of their alleged crime), a penalty that flouts an absolute international prohibition on the death penalty in such cases. Two of those facing execution are Behnoud Shojaee and Mohammad Feda'i, due to be executed on July 11, 2008. Both were originally set to be executed on June 11, but received last-minute, month-long reprieves to give them more time to seek pardons from the families of their victims. At least two other child offenders - Salah Taseb and Sa'eed Jazee - are also at risk of execution in the coming days. According to the group Human Rights Activists in Iran, Salah Taseb, who was convicted of a murder committed when he was 15, has been transferred from the children's prison to the main prison in Sanandaj soon after his 18th birthday. He may be executed before the end of the Iranian month of 'Tir', which ends on 23 July, although a spokesperson for the Judiciary Alireza Jamshidi said on 1 July that the case remained subject to appeal. The other condemned man, Sa'eed Jazee, who was due to be executed on 25 June, reportedly had his execution postponed for a month. He was convicted of the murder of a 22-year-old man, which took place in 2003 when he was 17 years old.