SCE News & Updates نوجوانان را اعدام نکنید

The Atomium in Brussels, Belgium, is illuminated for the Cities for Life – an annual initiative organized by pro-abolition groups. “No to the death penalty” was projected on to the sculpture in different languages. 

On 10 October – the World Day against the Death Penalty – activists and campaigners around the world will make a concerted stand against this most final and irrevocable of punishments. This year, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, of which AI is a member, will organize a day of local actions along the theme of “a failure of justice”.

Application of the death penalty itself is a failure of justice, but it is usually accompanied and compounded by a host of systemic breakdowns including unfair trials which can lead to the execution of the innocent, mentally ill or child offenders.

This year, the campaign focuses on child executions in Iran, discriminatory application of the death penalty on foreign nationals in Saudi Arabia, executions of the innocent in China and of the mentally ill in USA, and unfair trials in Nigeria. Events include public debates, concerts, film screenings and the collection of hundreds of signatures on appeals calling for an end to the death penalty.

The World Day will be followed on 30 November by Cities for Life, organized by the Rome-based Community of Sant’Egidio, Italy. Public buildings and spaces worldwide will be lit up – in effect acting as beacons affirming the value of life and signalling opposition to the death penalty. An annual event, it also commemorates the abolition of the death penalty in Tuscany on 30 November 1786 – the first such abolition in a European state.

To take action go to World Coalition Against the Death Penalty and see this year's action:

http://www.worldcoalition.org/modules/accueil/

Stop Child Executions Campaign supporters and volunteers are encouraged to increase campaign activities during the month of October. Meanwhile SCE campaign will be posting additional articles and posters about death penalty in this site.
 

"It is time to stand up and take action. It is time for the United Nations to enforce action when International human rights laws are breached. It is time for citizens of the world to unite and say "no more". If we chose to remain silent, then we should all be held accountable to human suffering. The good news is that our voices do count for something. Nazanin Fatehi, the young girl who was on death row for having fought off her rapists, is proof that when enough people gather, and have the courage to speak out, then change is inevitable." From Nazanin Afshin-Jam's speech in Berlin September 2007
 

Last week Nazanin Afshin-Jam was in Germany. Her trip, interviews and speech attracted much attention to the Stop Child Executions Campaign which resulted in many emails and signature on the SCE petition.  Following is a report by Nazanin from her myspace blog about her speech in Germany:

By Nazanin Afshin-Jam

 September 19, 2007

Today I spoke at Women's Rights Conference in the German Parliament district put on by the Alliance of Iranian Women and REALITE-EU where German parliamentarians, diplomats and press were invited. There was an amazing panel of women's rights activists, Mahin Arjomand, Nazila Bawandi, and famous German actress and singer Jasmin Tabatabai who has been leading a campaign for an Iranian lesbian who fled Iran to Germany and fears persecution if she is deported back. Chairing the event was Professor, Dr. Sussmuth who is the former President of the German Federal Parliament and former Federal Minister of Family Affairs, Women, Youth and Health.

Here is a synopsis of things I talked about in my speech…

Shortly after the Stop Child Executions website was launched it was blocked by the Iranian government. The Islamic regime in Iran also earlier had blocked the helpnazanin.com website which was set up last year by Nazanin Afshin-Jam to save Nazanin Fatehi from execution.

Yesterday Iran's president Ahmadinejad attended the National Press Club in New York. One of the questions from him, referred to the 2007 Amnesty International report on Iran which had reported that "Freedom of expression and association were increasingly curtailed. Internet access was increasingly restricted and monitored. Journalists and bloggers were detained and sentenced to prison or flogging. And at least 11 newspapers were closed."

As part of his response Iran's president stated : "In our country there are tens of millions of people who are connected to the Internet. They have access to it. So if you're talking about immoral -- like access perhaps to immoral sites, well, you would agree with me that those sites are harmful for society. Nobody can really allow access to those. "

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/24/AR2007092401084.html 

مجلس شوراي اسلامي و
رياست محترم قوه قضاييه
همچنانكه مستحضريد به موجب قوانين جمهوري اسلامي ايران ، سن مسئوليت كيفري براي دختران 9 سال و پسران 15 سال تمام قمري تعيين شده است كه اين موضوع موجبات صدور احكام سنگين از جمله اعدام براي افراد زير 18 سال را فراهم نموده است .
اين در حالي است كه طبق بند 5 ماده 6ميثاق حقوق مدني و سياسي و همچنين ماده 37 كنوانسيون حقوق كودك كه ايران ملزم به رعايت مقررات هر دوي آنهاست، صدور حكم اعدام براي افرادي كه در زمان ارتكاب جرم كمتر از 18 سال دارند، ممنوع است.
تصويب كليات لايحه تشكيل دادگاه اطفال و نوجوانان در سال گذشته، بارقه‌هاي اميدي را در دل طرفداران حقوق بشر ايجاد نمود" عنوان شده است: طولاني شدن روند تصويب لايحه مذكور و همچنين پاره‌اي از مفاد لايحه موصوف از جمله تفويض اختيار اجراي مقررات مربوط به حدود و قصاص در مورد اطفال زير 18 سال به قاضي دامنه نگراني‌هايي را ايجاد كرده است.
ما امضا كنندگان نامه حاضر به استناد تعهدات بين المللي دولت ايران و با تمسك به تجربيات ديگر جوامع در اين خصوص ضمن تاكيد مجدد بر اين‌كه هرگز دختر 9 ساله مانند افراد بزرگسال قادر به پيش بيني نتايج و تبعات اعمال خويش نيست، از قواي مقننه و قضاييه دولت ايران مي خواهيم ضمن ارج نهادن به تعهدات بين المللي در اين زمينه ، اقدامات زير را براي حفظ حقوق كودكان به عمل آورند .
اولا – رياست محترم قوه قضاييه از صدور اجازه اجراي حكم اعدام و قصاص تا تعيين تكليف لايحه تشكيل دادگاه اطفال و نوجوانان خودداري نمايند .
ثانيا – مجلس شوراي اسلامي ضمن تسريع در تصويب لايحه تشكيل دادگاه اطفال و نوجوانان ، در تصويب جزئيات آن ، دقت لازم را به عمل آورده تا اطمينان حاصل شود هيچ كودكي كه در زمان ارتكاب جرم كمتر از 18 سال داشته است در معرض صدور حكم اعدام اعم از حدود و قصاص و تعزيرات قرار نمي‌گيرد.
ثالثا - مجلس شوراي اسلامي تا تصويب قانون مذكور كه آن را بسيار طولاني‌تر از زمان مورد انتظار خوانده‌اند، با تصويب قانوني با قيد دو فوريت جهت ممنوعيت اجراي احكام اعدام افرادي كه در زمان ارتكاب جرم كمتر از 18 سال داشته‌اند، اقدام لازم را به عمل آورد.
از قوه مقننه و قضاييه ايران انتظار مي‌رود تا با در نظر گرفتن سياست‌هاي پيشرفته جنايي در دنياي امروز و با رعايت تساهل و مدارا، از صدور حكم اعدام افراد زير 18سال در هر شكلي و تحت هر عنواني اعم از حدود و قصاص و تعزيرات، جدا جلوگيري به عمل آورند و به نوجوانان اين مرز و بوم كه در اثر عوامل و شرايط قهري اجتماعي و اقتصادي و بي‌توجهي جامعه مرتكب جرم شده‌اند، فرصت مجددي براي بازسازي شخصيت‌شان و بازگشت به زندگي سالم بدهند و نيز براي پايان بخشيدن به اين معضل كه مرگ و زندگي افراد به صلاح ديد شخصي ديگران واگذار شده، ‌چاره‌اي بيانديشند.

 سيد محمد علي آذين- حسن آقاخاني- نعمت احمدي- زهرا ارزني – ابراهيم اسماعيلي هريسي – سعيد اقبالي – پريا برنا- مهناز پراكند- هوشنگ پوربابايي- گيتي پورفاضل- محسن جبلي طاهري- حوريه چهار لنگ- ليلا حقيقت خواه- آزاده حمسي- محمدعلي دادخواه- مليحه السادات دادخواه- نرگس دستجردي- پريسا دشتي پور- بهاره دولو- امير رئيسيان- نجما رحماني- نسرين ستوده- عبدالفتاح سلطاني- اكرم سلماني- سيد محمد سيف زاده- زينب سيفي- شاعري – مصطفي شعباني- محمد شيوايي- هاجر صباغيان- شادي صدر- سحر طالبي- شيرين عبادي- اسماعيل عرب- محمدرضا عظيمي- ليلا علي كرمي- نسيم غنوي- فريده غيرت- تقي فرزانه- الهام فهيمي- مريم قنبري- لطيف كبودوند- مريم كرباسي- سارا كريمي- بهمن كشاورز- مريم كيان ارثي- فاطمه گلزار- زهره مجدزاده- منيژه محمدي- محمد مصطفايي – فروغ ميرزايي- ليلا نمازي- عارف نوروزي- مرضيه نيك آرا و صالح نيكبخت.
انتهاي پيام

In a letter to Parliament of Islamic Republic and Head of judiciary Ayatollah Shahrudi, 55 Attorneys and children right activists in Iran demanded a halt to execution of persons under the 18 years of age until the passage of the new parliamentary bill which is supposed to stop this practice.  

After reference to Iran's penal age (9 lunar years for girls and 15 lunar years for boys) the letter recalled Iran's obligation to comply with Article 6.5 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the article 37(a) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) which prohibit execution of children.

Letter states that the preliminary approval of the parliamentary bill last year created much hope among the human right advocates however the lengthy delay in its passage as well as few parts of the bill such as exceptions in the cases of Ghisas (where family of victim is given the right to determine the life and death) has caused much worries.   

The letter continues that a 9 year old girl is not able to predict the consequences of her actions the same as an adult. The signors specifically asked Ayatollah Shahrudi to stop final approval of the executions orders until passage of this bill (At least 3 cases were approved by Shahrudi in 2007. two children were executed and Behnam Zare is awaiting execution)

The Iranian children right lawyers and activists also stated that there has not been any opposition to the passage of this bill by the religious leaders and therefore have asked Iran's parliament to speed up the passage of this bill and additionally assure that no child alleged of a crime below 18 years of age will ever be executed including the Quisas cases. 

In conclusion the letter states that Iran's legislative and judiciary must consider the advanced penal laws of today's world and to seriously stop and prevent approval of any laws or verdicts in any form and titles such as (Islamic sharia laws of) Hodud, Ghisas and Taziaat that lead to execution of a child. The letter further asks that the Iranian youth who have committed a crime due to social and economic circumstances to be given another chance to rebuild their character and to return to a healthy life.

"Seek a solution to this intricate which has assigned the life and death of citizens to the decision of another"  The letter concludes.

Nobel prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, Sina Paymard's attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh, Nazanin Fatehi's co-attorney Shadi Sadr and Mohammad Mostafai who represents many children such as Reza Alinejad and Behnam Zare are few of the names seen among the 55 signatories.

The SCE blog on iranian.com which has many readers among Iranians can be viewed at:

http://www.iranian.com/main/blog/sce-campaign

These are  some of the sites that are maintained by Stop Child Executions Campaign and its supporters:

•  
  • SCE blog on iranian.com
  • SCE care2.com site
  • SCE Delara Darabi myspace site
  • SCE disussion forum
  • SCE myspace site
  • SCE Petition
  • SCE supporters Facebook.com
  • SCE supporters Gather.com
  • SCE supporters Orkut.com
  • SCE website
  • SCE Wikipedia Page

10004 Total Signatures

Number of signatures on the Stop Child Execution Campaign petition surpassed 10,000 and growing.

The petition is available in 6 languages:

• English
• Persian( فارسي)
• Spanish (Español)
• French(Français)
• Swedish(Svenska)
• Romanian (Limba româna)

Following is a partial list of a few of those who have signed the petition:

• Shirin Ebadi, Iranian Nobel Prize Laureate 2003, Lawyer and human rights advocate
• Irshad Manji Muslim author activist
• Mina Ahadi, Head of the International Committee Against Executions
• Mehrangiz Kar Writer, Human Rights Advocate
• Mohammad Mostafaei, Attorney for Nazanin Fatehi and Reza Alinejad
• Fatemeh Haghighatjou, Iranian former Member of Parliament, Human Rights advocate
• Amir-Abbas Fakhravar, Former political prisoner
• Nazanin Fatehi, Former minor on death row in Iran
• Ali Alinejad, Brother of Reza Alinejad: a minor on death row
• Ghazal Darabi, Sister of Delara Darabi: a minor on death row
• Save the Children Sweden
• Donna and Graham Greene, Australian Music Artists
• Tim Bowles, Director of Youth for Human Rights International
• Tarek Fatah, Canada, Founder of Muslim Canadian Congress / activist
• Neda Shahidyazdani, USA Human Rights Lawyer

POLITICIANS AND MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENTS:

On February 27, 2007 more than 34 members of European Parliament signed a resolution to Stop Child Executions in Iran.  Additionally, this is a list of world pliticians who have signed the Petition:

• Jason Kenney, Canada Secretary of State
• Belinda Stronach, Canada member of Parliament
• May Hansen, Norway Member of parliament
• Francois Nicoullaud Former ambassador of France to Iran and author
• Jean-Marcel Cremona, secretary general of the Lebertarian party of France
• Peter Hulme Cross, member of the City of London Assembly
• 101 Members of the Swedish Parliament:

Barbro Westerholm, Gunnar Andrén, Birgitta Ohlsson, Alice Åström, Wiwi-Anne Johansson, Gudrun Utas, Jenny Fors, Egon Frid, Mats Einarsson, Gunilla Wahlén, Eva Olofsson, Elina Linna, Lars Ohly, Anki Ahlsten, Rossana Dinamarca, Mats Sander, Ulla andersson, Ewa Larsson, Ulrika Carlsson, Göran Lindblad, Kerstin Engle, Helena Leander, Mats Pertoft, Siv Holma, Eva Selin Lindgren, Per Bolund, Gunvor G Ericson, Birgitta Sellén, Solveig Zander, Eva Flyborg, Maria Lundqvist-Brömster, Maria Kornevik Jakobsson, Christer Winbäck, Kristin Oretorp, Holger Gustafsson, Solveig Hellquist, Tina Acketoft, Tina Ehn, barbro westerholm, Max Andersson, Bodil Ceballos, Solveig Zander, Agneta Berliner, Staffan Danielsson, Per Lodenius, Mildred Thulin, Morgan Johansson, Anita Brodén, Karla Lopez, Lars Lilja, Peter Jeppsson, Karin Svensson Smith, Eva-Lena Jansson, Lars Mejern Larsson, Hans Rothenberg, Veronica Palm, Ulla Löfgren, Inger Jarl Beck, Betty Malmberg, Lars-Ivar Ericson, Annie Johansson, Lennart Pettersson, Fredrik Malm, Hillevi Larsson, Désirée Pethrus Engström, Stefan Attefall, Inger Davidson, Karin Pilsäter, Jan Ertsborn, Marianne Berg, Peter Hultqvist, Emma Henriksson, Torbjörn Björlund, Désirée Liljevall, Lars Tysklind, Nina Larsson, Jennifer Hacker, Ulf Holm, Ola Nilsson, LiseLotte Olsson, Hans Linde, Lena Hallengren, Hans Backman, Josefin Brink, Maryam Yazdanfar, Fredrick Federley, Allan Widman, Mikael Johansson, Johan Pehrson, Jan Ericson, Rolf K Nilsson, Tomas Tobé, Maria Östberg Svanelind, Inger René, Ewa Thalén Finné, Walburga Habsburg, Mats G Nilsson

Nazanin Afshin-Jam and SCE campaign thank everyone for their support of the campaign to permanently stop child executions as well as for the emails and comments in support of the campaign. Additional word of thanks to the campaign volunteers and supporters for your hard work. "Together...we can put an end to this"

While in Germany for a speech at a human rights conference in Berlin, Nazanin Afshin-Jam was interviewed by Der-Spiegel, Europe's biggest and most influential weekly magazine, with a circulation of more than one million per week and a readership of an estimated 6.5 million.

Text in German: http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/0,1518,506366,00.html

Video of part of interview can be viewed at: http://www.spiegel.de/videoplayer/0,6298,21737,00.html

During the interview Nazanin Afshin-Jam told Spiegel that many European countries have close trade connections to Iran and are therefore cautious about pointing out the bad Human Rights situation in the country. She added that this kind of appeasement was just as wrong as the politics of George W. Bush.

Nazanin in another part of the interviews said that www.stopchildexecutions.com was created to present the situation of the children in Iran who are presently facing executions."We want to pressure the Iranian government to put an end to this" she added. This campaign is the further development of a campaign that helped rescue the life of an Iranian girl which proved we can make a difference, if we get together.

Nazanin Afshin-Jam and SCE campaign wish to thank the Germans for the overwhelming numbers of signatures at the Stop Child Executions Campaign petition and their emails offering to help the Stop Child Executions Campaign.