Iran executes man for murder committed when he was a minor

ANKARA

An Iranian man who was arrested for murder when he was 17 was executed on Wednesday, according to local media.

Arman Abdolali, now 24 years old, who was sentenced to death by an Iranian court for murdering his girlfriend in 2014, was executed at Rajaei Shahr Prison in the city of Karaj, west of the capital Tehran, state TV reported.

Abdolali was sentenced to death in 2015 but the verdict was overturned by the Supreme Court. He was tried again in February 2020, and was again sentenced to death that September.

Last month, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called on Iranian authorities to stop Abdolali’s execution, saying that international human rights law strictly prohibits imposing the death penalty on minors.

Several human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, said that Abdolali was 17 years old when he was arrested and that he was given the death penalty in a "grossly unfair" trial.

*Writing by Mahmoud Barakat