SCE News & Updates نوجوانان را اعدام نکنید

After Stop Child Execution Campaign was notified of the imminent execution of Behnam Zare by his atorney Mohammad Mostafaei; Nazanin Afshin-Jam and SCE contacted Amnesty International which resulted in their issuance of an international Urgent Action Call. Nazanin Afshin-Jam also has contacted the office of Ms. Louise Arbour, the High Commissioner for Human Rights at United Nations and her office has "provided the the information to the human
rights mechanisms in Geneva for their attention."

Also after learning about scheduled execution of Behnam Zare, the presidency of the European Union sent issued an statement, urging the Islamic regie in Iran to halt the execution. Additionally the governments of Australia, Croatia, Canada and Norway supported the statement. 

SCE is hopeful that as a result of the created international pressure , Behnam to be saved from execution.

Premier Romano Prodi defended Italy’s opposition to the death penalty after Rome's criticism of Iran’s recent mass executions escalated into a diplomatic fight.

An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman called Rome's protests an interference in Tehran's internal affairs. However Prodi insisted "Italy has a right to express its opposition to these executions."  The Italian Italian Foreign ministry expressed "strong worry".

"Iran is a country that abuses the death penalty and denies basic rights. It is a right and a duty to raise our voice," Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Gianni Vernetti told Corriere della Sera daily.

Source: Dow Jones,  August 6, 2007

THANK YOU HONORABLE MAY HANSEN OF NORWEGIAN PARLIAMENT:

THANK YOU TO THE NEW MEMBERS OF THE SWEDISH PARLIAMENT MEMBERS FOR SUPPORT OF STOP CHILD EXECUTIONS CAMPAIGN: (101 MP's have signed the petition to date)

THANK YOU SAVE THE CHILDREN (Sweden) (Rädda Barnen i Sverige ) FOR YOUR SUPPORT:

6208 SIGNATURES AND GROWING...

THANK YOU ALL

Signatures Per Month:

Month	Signatures
2007.03	1323
2007.04	1646
2007.05	3180

To date more than 91 members (26%) of Swedish Parliament have voiced their support for the Stop Child Executions Campaign. Here is the list of additional MP signatures since our last reports:

5454 Signatures and growing

According to today's edition of Iran Newspaper, Iran's judiciary submitted a bill to the Parliament of Iran to pass a law to ban execution and life imprisonment of children alleged to have committed crimes under the age of 18.

According to Iran Newspaper ( روزنامه ايران ) Alireza Jamshidi, the spokesperson for the Iranian Judiciary, stated in a press conference with Iranian and International reporters that: "The judiciary must be considerate of children because unlike adults, children who have committed a crime, lack organized and established violence. Therefore we must have lenience to remove hard punishments from this age group."

He added: "In this bill we have predicated special rulings for children and youth who have committed crime to implement rehabilitation instead of imprisonment, and to consider the circumstances and well as the age of the child. In this bill boys and girls are treated the same and age has been the only consideration. In this bill the punishment of execution and life imprisonment has completely been eliminated."  

Mr. Jamshidi stated that the bill suggest that: " Children's cases will be reviewed in special children divisions by female advisors and judges trained about children. In the bill, serious attention is given to cases of mistreatment of children, children labor and children prostitution."

"Creating family resolution centers, centers for children defense within the judiciary districts and special training of judges are some of the important tasks that judiciary is implementing"  

Nazanin Afshin-Jam and Stop Child Execution campaign consider this a major step in Stopping the Execution and life imprisonment of children in Iran. We also warn that this is still just a bill and we encourage everyone to now work even harder to raise our voice until its official approval and proper implementation. It is important to note that based on consitition of Islamic government of Iran's constitution all the bills even after approval by parliament must be approved by the council of experts to verify its conformity with Islamic Sharia and often the bills after substantial delays get rejected at that stage.  

We will continue to ask the international organizations and political leaders to contact Iranian government to comply with Iranian governments obligation with respect to the UN covenants regarding child executions and life imprisonments.

قوه قضائيه با ارائه لايحه اى به مجلس شوراى اسلامى خواستار حذف مجازات اعدام و حبس ابد اطفال و نوجوانان بزهكار شد.
به گزارش خبرنگار قضايى ما عليرضا جمشيدى سخنگوى قوه قضائيه ديروز در نشست مطبوعاتى با خبرنگاران داخلى و خارجى كه در كانون اصلاح و تربيت تهران برگزار شد، با اعلام اين مطلب درباره قوانين مجازات بزهكاران اطفال و نوجوانان گفت: نگاه قضايى بايد با آينده كودكان همسو باشد، چرا كه كودكان بزهكار فاقد خشونت هاى بزرگسالان و سازمان يافته هستند، بنابراين بايد تمهيدات گسترده اى فراهم شود تا برخى از مجازات هاى سنگين نيز در اين گروه سنى حذف شود.وى با بيان اين كه در لايحه جديد قوه قضائيه كه در مجلس شوراى اسلامى مطرح است، مجازات اعدام و حبس ابد حذف شده، گفت: در اين لايحه قانون جامعى درباره مجازات اطفال و نوجوانان بزهكار پيش بينى شده است كه در صورت تصويب با اعمال تدابير اصلاحى به جاى مجازات حبس، سعى شده است مقتضيات و شرايط سنى بزهكاران نيز در نظر گرفته شود. در اين لايحه ميان دختر و پسر فرق گذاشته نشده است و فقط سن بزهكار در نظرگرفته شده است. مجازات اعدام و حبس ابد هم حذف شده است.سخنگوى قوه قضائيه افزود: در اين رابطه پرونده اطفال در دادسراها و دادگاه هاى خاص رسيدگى مى شود و در اين مراجع قضايى از مشاوران زن و قضات تعليم ديده استفاده مى شود. همچنين در اين لايحه، سوءرفتار، بهره كشى از اطفال و هرزه نگارى كودكان از مواردى است كه در لايحه جديد به طور جدى به آن پرداخته شده است.جمشيدى با اشاره به تمهيدات در نظر گرفته شده در دادگسترى ها براى حل مشكلات اطفال بزهكار گفت: راه اندازى شوراهاى حل اختلاف، ايجاد واحدهاى حمايت از كودكان در دادگسترى ها و آموزش قضات از مهمترين اقدام هاى صورت گرفته قوه قضائيه در اين باره است 

In a letter to Foreign Minister of Sweden, Birgitta Ohlsson , member of the Swedish Parliament , after addressing Delara's situation and Iran's obligation to adhere to International laws against execution of children, she asked the Swedish Foreign minister : What is the policy and plan of Government of Sweden in stopping execution of Delara Darabi and others in Iran who were under 18 at the time of alleged crime?

17 år gammal greps den iranska flickan Delara Darabi för ett mord hon inte begått. Två år senare inväntar hon nu dödsstraff trots att ingen brottsutredning har gjorts. Den 16 februari 2007 offentliggjorde Högsta domstolen i Iran att Delara Darabi ska avrättas genom hängning inom kort. Mordet hon anklagas för begicks när hon ännu inte fyllt 18 år.

FN:s Kommitté för Barnens Rättigheter uppmanade 2005 Iran att ”omedelbart inställa verkställandet av alla dödsstraff för personer som begått brott när de var under 18 år”, vilket föreskrivits i artikel 37 i Konventionen om Barnens Rättigheter.

Dödsstraffet kränker rätten till liv och förhindrar inte brott. Det är inhumant, skapar martyrer och strider mot rätten till liv, vår allra mest grundläggande mänskliga rättighet.

Vad avser statsrådet att vidtaga för åtgärder så att den iranska staten häver dödsdomen mot Delara Darabi samt stoppar alla dödsstraff utfärdade för individer som anklagas för brott begångna innan de fyllt18 år?

English translation of letter:

Question

Stopping the execution of D Darabi

by Birgitta Ohlsson (fp)

to Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt

When she was 17 years old the Iranian girl Delara Darabi was arrested for a murder she did not commit. Two years later she is awaiting execution though there has been no crime scene investigation. The Supreme Court in Iran announced February 16, 2007 that Delara will be executed shortly by hanging. The murder she is accused of happened before she turned 18 years.

The UN committee on the Rights of the Child asked Iran in 2005 to “immediately end the use of death penalty against people who committed crimes before they turned 18 years”, as prescribed by article 37 in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The death penalty violates the right to life and do not act as an deterrent to crime. It is inhuman, creates martyrs and denies the right to life, the most fundamental of all human rights.

What measures does the minister intend to take to make the Iranian state overturn the death sentence against Delara Darabi, and end the use of death penalty for individuals accused for crimes committed before they turned 18 years?
 

Inkom: 2007-03-02

نامه بیریگیتا اولسون نماینده حزب مردم در پارلمان سوﺌد به وزیر امور خارجه سوﺌد درباره دلآرا دارابی و اعدام کودکان و نوجوانان درایران!

در پی تماسهای نماینده گان کمیته بین المللی علیه اعدام با بیرگیتا اولسون و تقاضای دخالت ایشان در شرایط دلارا دارابی، توقف اعدام کودکان و لغو مجازات اعدام در ایران، ایشان در نامه اش به کارل بیلد می نویسد:

دلآرا دارابی، زمانی که 17 سال بیشتر نداشت به جرم قتلی که مرتکب نشده است، بازداشت شد. دو سال بعد قرار است وی اعدام شود در حالیکه هیچ گونه تحقیقات جنایی در رابطه با این قتل صورت نگرفته است. شانزدهم فوریه دادگاه عالی ایران، اعلام کرد که حکم دلآرا تأیید شده است و به زودی به دار آویخته خواهد شد. قتلی که او به انجام آن متهم است در زمانی اتفاق افتاده است که وی به سن قانونی یعنی 18 سالگی نرسیده بود. کمیسیون حقوق کودکان سازمان ملل در سال 2005 بر اساس بند 37 کنوانسیون حقوق کودک، اخطار داد که اعدام کسانی که در زمان اجرای جرم، زیر 18 سال بوده اند را بیدرنگ متوقف کند،.

مجازات اعدام نه تنها از تکرار جنایت و قتل جلوگیری نمی کند بلکه حق حیات را سلب می کند. این عملی ضد انسانی و خلاف حق زندگی است، این ابتدایی ترین و پایه ای تری حقوق بشر.

برنامه دولت برای لغو حکم اعدام دلارا و اشخاص دیگری که در زمان وقوع جرم زیر 18 سال بوده اند در ایران چیست؟ 

The Iranian foreign minister visited  Sweden on Monday where he gave a speech at the Swedish Institute of Foreign Affairs. He also met with Swedish deputy prime minister Maud Olofsson and Foreign Minister Carl Bildt.

Bildt on Tuesday told Swedish radio that during the meeting he had discussed human rights concerns, including the extensive use of the death penalty in Iran.  In Sweden, Iranian and human rights groups criticized Mottaki's visit and staged protests.  Responding to critics, Bildt said that it was necessary to engage in a dialogue in order to have any means of influencing Iran and that the talks were part of joint European Union efforts to send a 'coordinated message' to Tehran. 

The Norway visit also generated attention to Iran's human rights violation records. The news on Norway's TV2 had stoning and suppresion of  women as one of their main cases. There were also a demonstration outside while the Iranian foreign minister had a meeting with Jonas Gahr Støre, the Norwegian foreign minister.

Unexpeted by Iranian officials, human rights became one of the main subjects of the meeting. Støre protested 
execution of minors, women's situation and Holocaust denial. 

On another news more Parliament members from Sweden signed the Stop Child Executions petition which brings the total of  Swedish MPs to 51 to date:

source: SVD Inrikis, SR Radio

As Nazanin Afshin-Jam enters the United Kingdom on her last media campaign stop, the number of signatures on the SCE petition exceeded 4000 with a surge in signatures from UK. Today Mr. Peter Hulme Cross, member of city of London Assemly signed the petition.

While in London, in a meeting with Amnesty International UK, Nazanin discussed more joint cooperation between SCE campaign and Amnesty International.

Stop Child Executions campaign also received substantial public support from the French. While in France Nazanin took every media and TV opportunity to raise awareness about the Child Executions in Iran.

On another front the growing support from Swedish Parliament members has been extraordinary (40 to date). Nazanin Afshin-Jam and SCE campaign thank the honorable members of the Parliament of Sweden for their continuous unparallel support:

SCE Camapign wish to thank honorable members of Swedish Parliament Mats Pertoft and Helena Leander for their kind support and signing the Stop Child Executions Campaign Petition.

We additionally extend our appreciation to the Secretary general and treasurer of the Lebertarian party of France for their support.