UN chides Iran over juvenile executions

The UN human rights chief yesterday appealed to Iran not to execute a woman convicted of murdering her husband at age 17.

Razieh Ebrahimi is among some 160 people thought to be on death row in Iran for crimes committed before they turned 18, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said.

"The imminent execution of Razieh Ebrahimi has once again brought into stark focus the unacceptable use of the death penalty against juvenile offenders in Iran," she said.

Ebrahimi was married at 14 and gave birth to a child a year later. She says that her husband subjected her to domestic violence. She was arrested in 2010.

"Regardless of the circumstances of the crime, the execution of juvenile offenders is clearly prohibited by international human rights law," said Pillay, a former judge.

Jannat Mir, a 17-year-old Afghan, was hanged in April in Isfahan prison in Iran for drug-related crimes, she said, raising concerns about whether he had a fair trial, because he was said not to have had access to a lawyer or consular services. Five other Afghans were executed with him for similar offences.