EU CONCERNED ABOUT IRAN YOUTH DEATH VERDICT

the European Union voiced ‘deep concern’ over what it said was the possible imminent execution of an Iranian man convicted of murdering a fellow school pupil when he was 16 years old. Ali Mahin Torabi, who has been in prison since 2002, was sentenced to death after he killed another pupil in a school fight. Police said he knifed his victim intentionally. His mother told Reuters in Teheran the family had requested a review of the case but that she feared ‘we are running out of time’. Iran is a signatory of UN conventions banning the execution of young offenders—people convicted of crimes committed when they were under 18. Under Iranian law, judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi must sign the verdict before the execution of Torabi can be carried out. ‘The EU is deeply concerned by the news of the imminent confirmation (by Hashemi-Shahroudi) ... of the execution sentence on Mr Ali Mahin Torabi,’ EU president Portugal said in a statement on behalf of the 27-nation grouping. In Teheran, Torabi’s mother confirmed the case would be sent to Hashemi-Shahroudi’s office by the end of this week. ‘They (judiciary officials) have told us that they will send the case to his office by the end of the week. (Hashemi-Shahroudi) hasn’t signed the verdict yet,’ she said by telephone, without giving her name. She said her son had never made a ‘definite confession’ and that the family had requested a review of the case.