Aug 16, 2007News: Changing Policy on Death Penalty for Minors in Iran?
By vanrozenheim
(Iran) - A court in Tehran has spared two teenagers found guilty of sexually abusing another boy from hanging. The judges in a Tehran general criminal court ruled that the teenagers, now aged 16 and 17, had not reached mental maturity at the time of the crime and thus could not be subjected to the death penalty. They were sentenced instead to ten years in prison. The case indicates a possible change of policy on execution of minors in Iran.
In front of the court consisting of five judges, the teenagers reportedly first admitted that they invited the boy into a house pretending there was a squirrel on the roof, and then sexually abused him. The accused teenagers said they did not wish to harm him, but were in an "altered mental state" leading to the incident.
Later they withdrew their statements and saud that no abuse had taken place, reportedly in contradiction to the evidence provided by the medical examiner that the boy had been sexually assaulted. In the most recent statement, the two declared their innocence throughout the rest of the process.
Two of the judges voted to sentence the teenagers to death, the other three noted the repeated denials of the teenagers, and their young age, and pleaded for a lower sentence. The ruling says that the teenagers were mentally immature at the time of the crime to be aware of the consequences of their actions.
Lily Mazahery, an Iranian-American attorney and human rights activist, explained that she views this ruling and similar ones involving teenagers as a positive step forward in bringing civillised standards of human rights to Iran.
As always, reports from Iran remain difficult to verify. Recently, the regime has conducted several executions of people accused of adultery and homosexuality, also a number of political prisoners was hanged.
