European Union is deeply concerned of Mr Amir Amrollahi’s situation

Iran Human Rights, August 15: Presidency of the European Union issued a statement expressing concern about Amir Amrollahi’s pending execution. The statement also joined by the Norwegian government:

"The European Union is deeply concerned by reports that Mr Amir Amrollahi, sentenced to death for crimes committed when he was a minor, is shortly to be executed.

This death sentence flagrantly contravenes the international obligations and commitments of the Islamic Republic of Iran as set out in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, both of which prohibit the execution of persons convicted of crimes committed when they were minors.

The European Union accordingly condemns the execution on 22 July 2008 of Mr Hassan Mozafari and Mr Rahman Shahidi, who were minors at the time of the acts for which they were convicted.

The European Union urges Iran to respect its international obligations and to take without delay the steps necessary to bring about a stay of execution in the case of Mr Amir Amrollahi and in general of all other persons facing the death penalty for acts committed when they were minors.

The European Union was therefore relieved to learn of the decision by the Iranian judicial authorities to annul the death sentence and order a retrial for Mr Ali Mahin Torabi, on whose behalf the European Union had intervened several times in recent months. The European Union calls on the Iranian authorities to act likewise in respect of other Iranians in the same situation, and to consider appropriate alternative penalties, educational and rehabilitative in nature, for those persons."