Iran: Statement by the Spokesperson on the execution of a juvenile offender
On 31 December, Mohammad Hassan Rezaiee was executed in Iran, after being sentenced to death for a crime committed when he was 16 years old.
The European Union condemns this execution in the strongest terms and recalls yet again that the death sentences for crimes committed by persons below the age of eighteen are contrary to international obligations under the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
As a matter of principle, the EU is opposed to capital punishment under any circumstances and aims at its universal abolition. Death penalty fails to act as a deterrent to crime and represents an unacceptable denial of human dignity and integrity. The EU calls on Iran to refrain from any future execution and to pursue a consistent policy towards the abolition of capital punishment.
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