SCE News & Updates نوجوانان را اعدام نکنید

Iran is a signatory to Convention on the Rights of the Child but its laws continue to remain in contraction with CRC. According to the laws of Iran, the penal age for girls is 9 and 15 for boys. A girl who does not even have the right to hold a bank account, suddenly in the eyes of Islamic Judges is treated like an adult at the age of 9. Soghra Najafpour who was sentenced to death at childhood is an example of this injustice:

With long straight hair and frightened green eyes, Soghra is known by the volunteers at Rasht prison as the longest kept prisoner. She who was hired at the age of 9 as a servant in a Doctor's home, but 4 years later she was accused of murder of the 8 year old son of the family. At the time 13 year old Soghra confessed to murder but soon after she denied any involvement and blamed her older boyfriend for it. Death of an 8 year old boy by a mature man rather than by a small framed, slim 13 year old girl seemed more logical and deserved more investigation but judges had already sentenced her to death and therefore discounted her story claiming that such man never existed and did not believe Soghra who said the reason for her initial silence was because she used to be in love with him.

That 13 year old child is now 30 years old waiting 17 years of her teenage years and twenties to be executed. Already once she was even taken to be executed but appealed last minute.

17 years later, she has lost her teeth, takes strong antidepressant medications, been under surgery a few times and her hand shakes at the age of 30. She talks about her childhood that how her poor parents in return for a sack of rice sent her to serve at the "Doctor's" home and how at the age of 13 she was sentenced to death for the murder that she did not commit.

Soghra knows Delara Darabi, another prison mate who was sentenced to death at the age of 17. Unlike Soghra who did not have a chance to attend school, Delara has high school education and that is why she helped Soghra with filling out her legal paperwork. After all not only they were the only two children in that prison who were sentenced to death, but they both used to be in love with men who took advantage of their childhood innocence. 

These days there is a small flicker of hope for Soghra: According to her attorney and children rights activist, Nasrin Sotoudeh, Soghra obtained a ruling for her release in return for approximately $40,000 bail but without any change in her execution verdict.      

But Soghra's family who live in a small village have no such financial capacity and therefore Soghra continues to live in the only home that she has known since the age of 13:  Rasht Prison of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

PERSIAN : http://scenews.blog.com/1957194/                                               Source: Aftab.ir  

روزنامه سرمايه:

«در جلسهء ماهانهء يونيسف مسير تحول قوانين حمايتي-كيفري در حقوق ايران با محوريت بررسي حقوق كودك مورد ارزيابي قرار گرفت.دكتر موذن‌زادگان، استاد دانشكدهء حقوق دانشگاه علامه طباطبايي مهمان اين نشست يونيسف بود.

ابتدا الكساندر نيچه،رييس بخش ارتباطات و رسانه‌هاي يونيسف ضمن خوشامد گويي به مهمانان دربارهء اجراي مسايل حقوقي كودكان در چارچوب قوانين گفت:«يونيسف وظيفهء خود مي‌داند كه طرح‌هاي كشورهايي مانند ايران كه نسبت به كنوانسيون حقوق كودك متعهد شده‌اند را مورد حمايت قرار داده و وضع حقوق كودك را در اين كشورها مورد بررسي قرار دهد.»پس از آن دكتر موذن‌زادگان در ابتدا تحول قوانين حمايتي كيفري در حقوق ايران به ويژه قوانين مربوط به كودكان را بيان كرد و افزود: «تحول قوانين حقوق كيفري به دو بخش جنبه‌هاي ماهوي حمايت‌هاي كيفري و حمايت‌هاي شكلي تقسيم مي‌شود. در واقع در اين دو بخش مسايلي از جمله واكنش قانون گذار در برابر ارتكاب جرم كودك; واكنش قانون‌گذار در مقابل بزه ديدگي كودك، بررسي و رسيدگي به اتهامات كودك و نوجوان و رسيدگي به شكايت كودكان و نوجوانان در معرض جرم مد نظر قرار گرفته است.»وي در ادامه ضمن اشاره به «برخي مفاد مندرج در كنوانسيون حقوق كودك; در مورد سير تحول قوانين حمايتي-كيفري در حقوق ايران» اظهار كرد: «قوانين كيفري - حمايتي در ايران به دو بخش قبل و بعد از انقلاب تقسيم مي‌شود.»

اين استاد دانشگاه تصريح كرد: «بر اساس قانون مجازات كيفري عمومي مصوب سال 1304 هجري شمسي و همچنين قانون آيين دادرسي كيفري مصوب 1290 هجري شمسي متاسفانه در اين دو قانون تصويبي اثري از حمايت كيفري جدي در مورد كودكان ديده نمي‌شود.تنها چيزي كه دراين دو قانون ديده مي‌شود اين است كه حداقل سن را براي مسووليت كيفري در نظر گرفته است و آن هم سن 12 سالگي است; يعني اين‌كه كودكان زير 12 سال معاف از اجراي حكم هستند. اين قانون متاثر از ماده يك كنوانسيون حقوق كودك مصوب شده است ولي جنبهء تعليم و تربيت و حرفه‌آموزي در اين قانون ديده نمي‌شود و فقط جنبه تنبيهي دارد.»

دكتر موذن‌زادگان اضافه كرد: «علاوه بر اين دو قانون سال 1338 قانون ديگري به تصويب رسيد كه در مورد تشكيل دادگاه اطفال بزهكار بود كه توانست هم حداقل سن كيفري تعيين شود و هم سقف مسووليت كيفري براي اطفال 6 تا 12 سال; 12 تا 15 سال و 15 تا 18 سال.»

وي در مورد قوانين كيفري پس از انقلاب افزود:«بين دو حالت حمايت كيفري يعني كودكان معارض با قانون و كودكان بزه ديده مي‌توان قايل به تفكيك شد. متاسفانه در مورد كودكان معارض با قانون در قوانين فعلي قانون‌گذار دست‌كم سن كيفري را مشخص نكرده كه اين معارض با كنوانسيون است و فقط از نظر سطح مسووليت كيفري ماده اول كنوانسيون مد نظر قرار گرفته است.

وي با اشاره به اين‌كه «سن مسووليت كيفري در مورد دختران 9 سال قمري و پسران 15 سال قمري است» گفت: «در اين مورد تبعيض جنسيتي هم ديده مي‌شود كه مردود است و از نظر كنوانسيون طيف گسترده‌اي از اقدامات اصلاحي; تربيتي و متاسفانه تنبيهي آن هم نسبت به ضرورت و صلاح ديد قاضي باز هم واكنش‌هاي تنبيهي مردود است و تاثيري در اصلاح و تربيت كودكان ندارد!»

دكتر موذن‌زادگان افزود: «اميد است كه با تدوين لايحه تشكيل دادگاه‌هاي اطفال كه به مجلس رفته و در شور اول تصويب شده است، بتوانيم مواد كنوانسيون را كه در اين پيش‌نويس هم مد نظر قرار گرفته است، اعمال كنيم. اميدوارم كه تحول حقوق كودك با توجه به لوايحي كه در دست تدوين است پيشرفت كند و براي كودكان موثر باشد.

خانم مينا احدی، سخنگوی کميته «عليه اعدام» در آلمان در مورد شرايطی که موجب دستگيری سينا پايمرد شد، و اين که چه اقداماتی برای نجات جان سينا شده است به پرسشهای خبرنگار بخش فارسی صدای آمريکا توضيحاتی داد.

 

 

http://www.voanews.com/mediaassets/persian/2007_07/Audio/ra/Bahador21July07.ra 

YEMEN :  The Parliament of Children appealed to president Ali Abdllah Saleh, head of the High Judiciary Council and Minister of Justice to stop a death penalty against the juvenile child Walid Haikal.

In their petition, members of the Children Parliament said Walid was only 15 years when he committed the crime.
"We appeal to you to mercifully and fairly look to this case according to international conventions, especially the children right convention, which Yemen has signed," said the petition. It said the convention disallows the execution of a child under 18 years.

The trial of Walid Haikal, convicted of a murder crime, lasted seven years, according to the petition.

This brings the total on children worldwide known to face execution to 80: 74 in Iran, 3 in Saudi Arabia, 2 in  Sudan, 1 in Yemen, all Islamic countries. 

Source: Yemen News http://www.newsyemen.net/en/view_news.asp?sub_no=3_2007_07_25_6771 

 

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Iran's parliamentary bill for revision of children laws does not seem to be among top priorities of Mullahs of the Iran's parliament. The bill which was initially introduced 3.5 years ago was recently reviewed by the Parliament's special committees but has been stalled again. Although the bill is an improvement to the existing laws however it still contains many serious flaws.
 
Despite the official claim that the bill is intended to stop child executions in Iran but a detail review of its contents show that even if the bill pass in its present format, the Iranian children will still be executed.
 
According to Nasrin Sotoudeh, attorney and children rights activist based on item 31 of the bill for children between the ages of 15 and 18 , the prescribed punishment for serious crimes is 2 to 8 years of imprisonment in the center for rehabilitation and training  instead of life imprisonment and execution. Although this item seem to be compliant with present social and legal demands however other portion of the bill  (#33) states: " For those crime where the punishment is Ghisas (Islamic sharia retribution right of victim's family to demand execution) , only IF the maturity of child is not doubted ,s/he will be punished based on item 31 of the new law ." It further describes that "children courts can refer the child for medical evaluation or by any other source as determined by the the court to determine his/her maturity." In other words if the child is determined to be mentally mature s/he still would be executed..
 
This clause clearly violates Iran's international obligation not to execute children under 18 years of age and still leaves the decision of execution for those between the ages of 15 and 18 to the courts. It is important to note that majority of 71 Iranian children who are currently facing execution were alleged of crimes in the same age group and most of their crimes fall under the Ghisas category (e.g: Reza Alinejad, Delara Darabi, Sina Paymard , Nazanin Fatehi, etc)
 
Another lawyer, Rosa Gherachlou in an interview with Etemaad newspaper said: " There is no direct reference in this bill or any other laws to a specific age qualified for such punishment.  The determination is referred to the medical review and ONLY IF child's maturity is not determined s/he will not be subjected to extreme punishments" . She added: "Accordingly the determination of a child status is still based on puberty as prescribed in Sharia laws despite the fact that Iran is a member of Children Rights Convention which in its declares a child as a person under the age of 18"
 
Aleshagh, one of Iran's superior court Judges states: " Lawmakers consider the age of 18 as legal age for financial matters however when it comes to penal laws they take puberty as the legal age."   
 
The contradictions are even more obvious for girls. A 9 year old girl is considered mature and can be married or if she commits a murder she will be sentenced to death but the same so called mature girl does not have the right to file a legal claim or to hold a property. In the case of Ghisas it is also obvious that a child under the age of 18 is incapable of offering blood money and therefore the parents will be financially responsible for the payment ! Such contradictions has been mentioned to the legal committee of the Iranian parliament and it is hoped that the proposed bill to be revised to comply with international children rights standards, not to mention that the bill has to pass through the council of Gurdians who would potentially reject the bill as un-Islamic.
 
Ali Najafi Tavana , a university law professor in Iran asks "Why is it that while some judges who sentence children to death they postpone the execution to the age of 18? Isn't this by itself a proof of judge's knowledge that his verdict is not logical?"   
 
 
Reference: one million signature Campaign, Iran     (Persian: http://scenews.blog.com/1957189/)

Last week a group of Iranian Attorneys' held a conference in Tehran discussing the penal laws of Iran's Islamic Regime.

Dr. Najafi Tavana one of the speakers at the conference said that in 1925 Iran's laws were drafted from penal laws of France, Belgium, Italy and Austria. In spite of religion the age of 18 was gradually approved as the legal age. Thereafter based on these progressive laws, children courts were officially recognized in 1959. However after the Islamic revolution these laws were unfortunately abandoned. The current laws establish the penal age at puberty - 9 to 15 years of age. "How could the same child who is not given the legal authority to hold a property, is treated like an adult if s/he commits a crime?....How could a child who did not have a legal responsibility , one day reaches (at physical puberty) maturity and starting the next day becomes responsible?" he asked.

 "This is not scientifically acceptable, because the ability to control behavior during puberty is unstable and scientifically this instability continues until the child obtains more control and achieves a balance of his/her spiritual, physical and sexual needs." he added.

Najafi said: " Although our judiciary based on this inaccurate method bases puberty as the responsible age , however they avoid executing a 15 year old boy or a 10 year old girl." (Iran usually imprisons children until the age of 18 before executing them.)

"Our penal laws are illogical and even in contradiction with religious resources and in contrast with scientific fundamentals and international conventions" He concluded.

Source: Radio Zamaneh (Persian: scenews.blog.com/1957230/ )

In a email to Nazanin Afshin-Jam, Ali Alinejad, brother of Reza Alinejad attached a letter that was prepared by Reza's attorney with about 300 signatures on petition in Persian for Reza Alinejad. The letter addressed to head of Iran's Judiciary Ayatollah Sharudi and the signed petition can be found here:

www.stopchildexecutions.com/Files/Rezaletter.pdf

www.stopchildexecutions.com/Files/RezaPersianPetition.pdf

Aubrey Harris, the campaign coordinator for Amnesty International, Canadian Section was interviewed on CBC Newsworld on the day that Sina Paymard was scheduled to be executed. Since then due to international pressure Sina was granted 10 days extension which resulted in raising the blood money funds needed to spare Sina's life. Aubrey Harris met Nazanin Afshin-Jam last month and he closely works with SCE Campaign to stop child executions in Iran.

Nasrin Sotoudeh the defense attorney of Sina Paymard today told ISNA (Iranian Student News Agency) that the remaining balance of blood money requested by Family of the alleged victim was deposited.

$80,000 was provided by Sina's father and the balance of $90,000 was donated by other Iranians. Nasrin Sotoudeh today informed the authorities that requested funds are ready.

During the phone conversation with Mrs. Sotoudeh, Sina Paymard was talking about a strarting new life and continuing his education. 

وكيل مدافع سينا پايمرد از تامين مبلغ مورد درخواست خانواده‌ي مقتول براي آزادي سينا و گذشت از قصاص وي خبر داد.
نسرين ستوده در گفت‌وگو با خبرنگار حقوقي خبرگزاري دانشجويان ايران (ايسنا)، اظهار داشت: پيش از اين حدود 70 ميليون تومان توسط پدر سينا تامين شده بود كه امروز با كمك چند شهروند خير 80 ميليون باقي مانده نيز واريز شد.
وي افزود: امروز طي لايحه‌اي به اجراي احكام دادسراي مربوطه اعلام كرديم كه اين مبلغ پول كه پيش از اين از سوي خانواده‌ي مقتول درخواست شده بود، طي چك بانكي آماده است.
اين وكيل دادگستري تصريح كرد: طي تماس تلفني سينا با من، او نويد يك زندگي سالم توام با ادامه تحصيل و فعاليت‌هاي خود را داد كه اميدواريم تحقق پيدا كند.
به گزارش ايسنا، حكم قصاص سينا پايمرد متهم به قتل «محمدحسين» تاكنون دو بار به تعويق افتاده است.