نوجوانان را اعدام نکنید SCE News & Updates

1 - Here again we have a judge issuing a cruel and inhumane mandate completely beyond the control of the accused. This boy is told to obtain a pardon from the family of the alleged victim or face execution. And again, the court is placing the decision over life and death in the hands of biased private citizens (the family of the alleged victim) and saying that the penalty for not obtaining this pardon is death. In civilized nations of the world this ruling would be viewed as incompetent and would most likely result in the impeachment of the judge. (Comment this)

2 - Unfortunately I don't know the details of his crime. There are plenty of kids his age in America that I would gladly execute because they were just plain intentional in there acts. Just mean, knowing full well what they did was wrong, but our politico-legal system is so fouled up in this country that you don't know who to blame. In Iran, it could be the same, only we don't know the circumstances. If a step father was beating his mother, he should be able to kill him regardless of the consequences, but if it was purely out of anger, then, by age 15, there are no excuses. Once again, there are too few facts in the statements in the news brief above to make a judgement as to whether this minor should suffer the death penalty. In America, if I saw a young guy walk up with a gun and blow someone away so he could prove something, I would happily attend his hanging, but unfortunately that would never happen because our justice system has gone so far right that it's left. (Comment this)

3 - Sad,

International law has set the age of a juvenile offender being up to the age of 18. This definition is used in both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Both of these have been signed by Iran. Iran has simply been ignoring this and trying to out-define 'execution' so to exclude certain crimes, such as murder. In that case Iran claims it is not executing but exacting revenge. To the best of my knowledge no other country in the world relies on this definition.

Juvenile Offenders are considered a special category of offender based on the fact that children are still learning morals, are considered less responsible (as don't, for example, allow those under the age of 18 to vote under the same principle).

As such, how can we hold them ultimately responsible to the point of taking their life?

That issue lies even outside of the question of the reliability of the courts and the general fairness of the system - which you rightly question - but I think it important to note that there are reasons nearly every country on earth has banned the execution of juvenile offenders. The USA was the lone modern industrialised country to continue to execute child offenders up until 2005 when the Supreme Court finally ruled that such offenders should be exempt based on the US Constitutions and the 'evolving standards of decency' of society.

Stop Child Executions.com and Amnesty International have a good deal of other background information on this issue as does the Death Penalty Information Center on the case of the USA and execution of juvenile offenders.

www.stopchildexecutions.com
http://web.amnesty.o (Comment this)

4 - I will never understand a country that defines itself by a so called peaceful and humanitarian religion can carry out executions on adults never mind children. I believe that no god regardless who it is was never that unforgiving or cruel. Maybe Iran and its so called religious laws which to the modern world are barbaric should educate itself in this century and see that man is better equpped psychologically to understand people and realise that not everything is black and white. I will say if there is a god then i hope he can forgive them as they no no better sadly. eve glasgow 8/12/07 (Comment this)

5 - What you are saying makes sense Eve, but do not consider "a country", and "a regime" the same. (Comment this)