EU condemns Iran for public execution of 29 people

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By Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk • August 4, 2008 - 17:47

The executions were carried out on Sunday 27th July

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The European Union has condemned in the "strongest terms" the execution of 29 people at a notorious prison in Tehran last month.

The mass hangings, at Evin prison in the Sa'adat Abad suburb, were given prominent coverage in the Iranian press.

The country's state broadcaster IRIB even broadcast interviews with ten of the condemned men in which they said they deserved to be killed for their crimes, which reportedly included rape, murder and "disrupting public security and peace."

"The 29 who were executed were involved in the smuggling of narcotics on a wide scale, organised crime, murder and armed robbery," said Tehran prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi.

The executions, which were carried out on Sunday 27th July, bring the total number in 2008 to more than 150.

The EU said in a statement:

"The Iranian regime's action of staging these executions and making them the focus of media attention is an affront to human dignity.

"The European Union remains convinced that capital punishment cannot form the basis of a fair and effective prosecution policy: the dissuasive effect of this penalty has never been proved and any judicial error is irreversible.

"The European Union is deeply concerned by the increasing recourse to the death penalty in Iran in recent months.

"It urges the Iranian authorities to put an end to death sentences and executions, to establish a moratorium with a view to abolishing the death penalty in accordance with the resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly and to respect international human rights standards for all Iranians."

In 2005 Iran sparked international outrage when it publicly executed two teenage boys.
2005年伊朗当局由于处决了两个青少年，而引起了国际社会的强烈谴责。

Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni were hanged because according to the regime they were rapists, however gay campaigners insist the boys were killed under Sharia law for the crime of homosexuality.
Mahmoud Asgari 和 Ayaz Marhoni 被执行绞刑的理由，伊朗当局声称他们是强奸犯，实际上同性权益组织坚持说他们实际上是因为触犯了当局的有关同性行为有罪的条文。

At first it was claimed by Iranian officials that they were aged 18 and 19.
伊朗当局屈于国际社会的压力，声称他们是在18岁和19岁的时候被处决的。

The best evidence is that both youths were aged 17 when they were executed and therefore minors, aged 15 or 16, at the time of their alleged crimes.
最有力的证据是两个男孩实际上是在17岁的时候被处决的，因此，他们实际上宣布他们有罪实在他们15或者16岁的时候。

Iranian human rights campaigners estimate that 4,000 gay men have been executed since the Islamic revolution in 1979.
伊朗人权斗争组织估计自1979年伊斯兰大革命以来，共有大约4000男性同性恋者被杀害。

Under Sharia law gay sex illegal, with penalty of death for offenders as young as 14 years old.
根据伊斯兰教教法，同性性行为是非法的，被处决者的最小年龄是14岁。

"Within the structure of many penal codes (in Iran) sodomy laws are grouped together with rape, sexual assault, incest and sexual abuse of children thereby conflating crimes of sexual violence with acts of non-procreative sex," according to the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.

Earlier this year it was reported that the Iranian authorities are considering extending the use of the death penalty to corruption, prostitution and renouncing Islam, or apostasy, on the internet.

                               
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