Stop Child Executions Campaign

The “Stop Child Executions” Campaign, is a non-profit organization co-founded by Nazanin Afshin-Jam, aims at putting an end to executions of minors in Iran. The campaign intends to raise awareness about this issue as well to put pressure on the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, both internally in Iran and internationally. This campaign is a follow-up effort to the successful campaign and petition that helped save the life of Nazanin Fatehi from execution. Preparation activities in support of this campaign commenced after release of nazanin Fatehi from prison and after more than 350,000 signatures that were signed worldwide. [ [http://www.stopchildexecutions.com/ Stop Child executions Campaign Website] ] [ [http://www.savenazanin.com Save Nazanin website] ]

A petition has been made to obtain signatures and support worldwide which can be found on their website at [http://www.stopchildexecutions.com www.stopchildexecutions.com] . Campaign also has a news and update blog at [http://scenews.blog.com/ scenews.blog.com/] .

Background Information

As a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the government of Iran has undertaken not to execute anyone for an offense committed when they were under the age of 18.

Article 6.5 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) declares: “Sentence of death shall not be imposed for crimes committed by persons below eighteen years of age” and the article 37(a) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) provides that: “Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offenses committed by persons below eighteen years of age”.

In January 2005, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, which monitors states' compliance with the CRC, urged Iran to immediately stay all executions of child offenders and to abolish the use of the death penalty in such cases. In the summer of 2006, the Iranian Parliament reportedly passed a bill establishing special courts for children and adolescents. However, it has not yet been approved by the Council of Guardians, which supervises Iran's legislation to ensure conformity with Islamic principles. During the past four years, the Iranian authorities have reportedly been considering legislation to ban the death penalty for juvenile offenders. Recent comments by a judiciary spokesperson indicates that the proposed law would only prohibit the death penalty for certain crimes, and not all crimes committed by children.

Since 1990 at least [http://www.stopchildexecutions.com/minors_executed.aspx 34 executions] of juvenile offenders in Iran has been recorded (26 since 2005).

When Stop Child Executions Campaign was initially formed, there were only 21 known names but as of October 3, 2008 SCE has recorded at least 140 juvenile offenders on death row in Iran, 3 in Saudi Arabia, 3 in Sudan and 1 in Yemen. So far 6 juveniles are reported to have been executed in Iran to date in 2008. [http://www.stopchildexecutions.com/scedata.aspx SCE list of juveniles on execution row] [http://scenews.blog.com/1963613/] [http://scenews.blog.com/1934193/] [http://www.stopchildexecutions.com/minors_executed.aspx] [http://scenews.blog.com/1981191/] [http://www.emadbaghi.com/archives/Issue_of_Executions.doc] [http://www.changethis.com/pdfdl/1.04.StopExecutions.pdf]

Supporters

[http://scenews.blog.com/Campaign+Support/] :

*Nazanin Afshin-Jam, Co-founder (President), Miss World Canada 2003, artist and human rights advocate
* David Etebari, Co-founder (Vice President), Campaign Director, human rights advocate
*Shirin Ebadi, Iranian Nobel Prize Laureate 2003, Lawyer and human rights advocate
*Irshad Manji Muslim author activist
*Mina Ahadi, Head of the International Committee Against Executions
*Mehrangiz Kar Writer, Human Rights Advocate
* Mohammad Mostafaei, Attorney for Nazanin Fatehi and Reza Alinejad
* Nasrin Sotoudeh, Attorney for Sina Paymard and Soghra Najafpour
* Shadi Sadr, Attorney for Nazanin Fatehi and woman right activist
* Abdolsamad Khoramshahi, Attorney for Delara Darabi
*Fatemeh Haghighatjou, Iranian former Member of Parliament, Human Rights advocate
*Trita Parsi, President of the National Iranian American Council, Author
*Maz Jobrani, Actor - Comedian
*Dariush Kadivar, Iranian journalist, Film Historian, Writer
*Amir-Abbas Fakhravar, Former political prisoner
*Nazanin Fatehi, Former minor on death row in Iran
* Ali Alinejad, Brother of Reza Alinejad: a minor on death row
* Ghazal Darabi, Sister of Delara Darabi: a minor on death row
*Save the Children Sweden
* Donna and Graham Greene, Australian Music Artists
*Tim Bowles, Director of Youth for Human Rights International
* James C. McIntosh, Founder: The National Youth Orchestra of Canada
* Tarek Fatah, Canada, Founder of Muslim Canadian Congress / activist
* Neda Shahidyazdani, USA Human Rights Activist

POLITICIANS AND MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENTS:

On February 27, 2007 more than 34 members of European Parliament signed a resolution to Stop Child Executions in Iran, [http://scenews.blog.com/1638812/] .Additionally, this is a list of world politicians who have signed the Petition:
*Jason Kenney, Canada Secretary of State
*Belinda Stronach, Canada member of Parliament
*May Hansen, Norway Member of parliament
*Feleknas Uca, European Parliament member
*Francois Nicoullaud Former ambassador of France to Iran and author
* Jean-Marcel Cremona, secretary general of the Lebertarian party of France
*Peter Hulme Cross, member of the City of London Assembly
* David Kilgour Former Canadian Secretary of State (Africa and latin America)
* 102 of the 349 Members of the Swedish Parliament

See also

* Nazanin Fatehi
* Delara Darabi
* Atefeh Sahaaleh
* Nazanin Afshin-Jam

References

External links

* [http://scenews.blog.com SCE News and Update Blog]
* [http://www.stopchildexecutions.com/scedata.aspx SCE list of juveniles on execution row]
* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=533103998986446192&q=delara+darabi "A Prisoner of Colors" Documentary made by SCE about Delara Darabi facing execution in Iran]
* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-326154263842459700&hl=en Video Collage about the Campaign]
* [http://scenews.blog.com/2008965/ Execution of a teenage girl MUSIC VIDEO]
* [http://www.stopchildexecutions.com/updates/Aust-Govt-Feb-2007_DG.pdf Letter of Leader of Australian Democrats to Iranian Government]
* [http://www.stopchildexecutions.com/updates/Aust-Govt-March-2007_DG.pdf Letter of support of Australian Government]
* [http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE130842006 Amnesty International Report August 2006]
* [http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE130052006 Amnesty international: Iran: Amnesty International call for end to death penalty for child offenders]
* [http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engMDE130532006?open&of=eng-IRN Amnesty International report]
* [http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/09/22/iran14247.htm Human Rights Watch Organization report]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/5217424.stm Execution of a teenage girl] BBC News
* [http://www.stopchildexecutions.com/video/etgvid3.aspx Execution of a teenage girl] BBC Documentary Video