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EU condemns execution of Iranian teens

Iran Materials 23 September 2011 13:29 (UTC +04:00)
Catherine Ashton, EU High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, condemned the last execution of a juvenile offender in Iran.
EU condemns execution of Iranian teens

Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 23 /Trend T.Konyayeva/

Catherine Ashton, EU High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, condemned the last execution of a juvenile offender in Iran, the official statement reads.

"I condemn in the strongest terms the public execution of Alireza Molla-Soltani in Iran. Soltani was under 18 at the time of his alleged offence. This execution therefore stands in clear contravention to Iran's international obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child," Ashton said in the statement issued on Thursday.

She stressed that the EU has expressed several times its concern at the alarming rate of executions in Iran this year and utterly condemns the practice of carrying them out in public or by suspension hanging.

"I reiterate the EU's call on Iran to declare a moratorium on the death penalty in line with the growing global trend towards abolition of this punishment," Ashton said.

Eighteen-year-old Soltani was executed on Sept. 21. He was accused of murdering Rouhollah Dadashi who was considered as being among the world's most powerful men.

Iran's power-lifter and strongman title champion, Rouhollah Dadashi, was killed in Iran's northern city of Karaj, attacked and stabbed to death on July 16, 2011, by three young men. The murderers escaped from the scene by car.

According to international media services, since early 2011, about 200 people have been executed in Iran.
The UN and Amnesty International have repeatedly called on Iran to stop the executions. Human rights activists argue that the actual number of people executed in Iran exceeds the officially reported figures in official statistics.

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