Arman Abdolali was hanged on November 24, 2021 without his parents being able to say goodbye to him. The execution of the young Iranian created a wave of indignation among human rights organizations, but also on social networks, because he was sentenced to death for an act that occurred when he was only 17 years old. . The man was 25 at the time of his death. The Islamic Republic of Iran has one of the highest rates of executions of minors in the world at the time of the alleged crime.
“The international community should not tolerate the torture and execution of child offenders in Iran”, denounced Mahmoud Amiry-Moghaddam, the director of Human Rights of Iran, a non-governmental organization (NGO) based in Oslo. According to Amnesty International, the police investigation into the Arman Abdolali case was “Incomplete and defective”, his trial “Extremely inequitable”. The teenager had been accused of having killed his girlfriend in 2012. He had however declared before the judge to have been tortured and beaten during his detention in solitary confinement (seventy-six days) in order to make him confess the crime. The court nonetheless cited these confessions as evidence to convict him, Amnesty International explains in its press release.
Confessions under torture
On November 17, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in a resolution condemned human rights violations in Iran. The UN report cites seven recent executions of minors at the time of their alleged crime. The latter confessed under duress and torture. In its resolution, the UN also expresses its concern over the “Alarming frequency of the death penalty”, to “Widespread and systematic use of arbitrary arrests and detentions” and to “Intimidation and persecution, including kidnappings, arrests and executions of political opponents and human rights defenders”.
The coming to power of ultraconservative President Ebrahim Raïssi in June has reinforced the weight of the tough guys in the balance of power in Iran. Now, the three pillars – judicial, legislative and executive – are in the hands of the conservatives and align with the line advocated by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The election of Iran’s new head of state, who played a key role in the execution of thousands of political prisoners in 1988, left little hope for improvement in human rights in the country.
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