Thursday, October 29, 2009

More Compassion, Less Brutality Needed In Iran

An Iranian man was hanged recently in Tehran by the parents of his victim whom he murdered in a brawl as a teenager, despite international calls urging the Islamic republic to stop such executions. Behnoud Shojaie was convicted of stabbing to death 17-year-old Ehsan Nasrollahi during a fight in August 2005 when he was also 17.

According to a spokesman at the detention facility where Shojaie was held, "The mother and father of Ehsan Nasrollahi themselves carried out the punishment in the Evin prison." Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, a former Iran judiciary chief, had agreed in June last year to suspend Shojaie's death sentence to give the victim's family a chance to pardon him under Islamic law. Nasrollahi's family refused to pardon the teenager and instead, used the time to carry out their revenge.

A judiciary bill awaiting parliamentary approval aims to ease punishments for offenses committed by youths and make it harder for courts to sentence minors to death.

No comments: