EU URGES IRAN TO SPARE MAN OVER YOUTHFUL KILLING

the European Union urged Iran not to execute a young man sentenced to death for a fatal stabbing committed when he was a minor. "The Presidency of the EU is deeply concerned by the news of the imminent execution of Behnoud Shojaee," the current EU president, Slovenia, said in a statement, adding that juvenile death sentences breach Iran's international obligations. "The presidency urges the Islamic Republic of Iran to comply with international law and to immediately halt the execution of Mr Shojaee and of all other juvenile offenders on death row," the statement said. Shojaee's execution is planned for May 7, Amnesty International says on its website. He is aged 20 and was 17 at the time of his crime, the rights group says. Amnesty International says Shojaee intervened to stop a fight between a friend and another boy, and stabbed the other boy once with a shard of glass after being threatened with a knife.