United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern over the rights of women and minorities in Iran

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern over the rights of women and minorities in Iran, as well as over the death penalty, including juvenile executions and stoning, in a new report to the General Assembly on the country's human rights situation. The report said there has been a sudden surge of executions in recent months, and the UN Human Rights Committee has sounded the alarm over the "extremely high number of death sentences, many resulting from trials in which the guarantees of due process of law had not been properly applied." Despite a circular issued by the head of the judiciary in January 2002 prohibiting stoning as punishment, the practice has been reported to continue. In another non-binding circular, the judiciary has placed a moratorium on juvenile executions, but the sentences are still being applied, Mr. Ban said. "The age for criminal responsibility under Iranian law is set at 14 years and 7 months for boys and 8 years and 9 months for girls, which is not only discriminatory but also low by international standards," the report said. The new publication urged Iran to continue revising national laws, particularly the new Penal Code and juvenile justice law to bring them in line with international human rights standards. It also welcomes steps the country has taken to explore cooperation on human rights and justice reform with the United Nations.