Zeinab Sekaanvand, a woman accused of committing murder at the age of seventeen, was hanged in Urmia Prison on Tuesday, October 2nd, 2018.
Zeinab Sekaanvand’s brother, while confirming the news to Iran International, said: “Last night, in a call from the authorities of Urmia Prison, we were told to come to prison for the last visit and we went. We were told that she would be executed tomorrow morning. The verdict was executed and we are now having the body and going to bury her. “
Zeinab Sekaanvand was arrested in March 2011 on charges of murdering her husband. Despite the confession of her crime, she later took her confession back.
During the arrest, Zeinab Sekaanvand was allegedly denied access to a lawyer and was forced to confess under the pressure of physical and mental torture.
Amnesty International, based in London, yesterday asked the Iranian authorities to stop the death sentence of Zeinab Sekaanvand, the 24-year-old Kurdish prisoner immediately.
Amnesty International, director of research in North Africa and the Middle East, Philip Luther said in response to this scary news story:
“Iranian authorities should immediately stop the execution of Zeinab Sekaanvand. She was arrested when she was only 17 years old and sentenced to death on charges of murdering her husband, who married her at age 15. Given that Zeinab Sekaanvand was underage at the time of the crime, as well as the severely unfair trial, execution of her death sentence should be stopped immediately.
The prohibition of children under the age of 18 death sentence is one of the most important provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
All UN members, except the United States, have endorsed this law. Iran also “conditionally” endorsed the convention in 1993, provided that in each case the Convention does not comply with domestic laws and Islamic norms, it will not comply.
Determining the age of punitive for children under the age of 18 is controversial. In Iran, based on the age of maturity in Islamic law, the age of punitive for boys is 15 and for girls is 9 years old. Accordingly, Iran’s courts issues death sentences for children.
Human rights organizations have repeatedly criticized Iran for having executed children. The high number of executions in Iran has also been criticized by civil and human rights activists. In the past few years, Iran has been implementing the highest number of death sentences after China.