COMMENTARY

Shirin Ebadi, the 2003 winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace, has condemned the execution of two teenagers in Iran earlier this week.

According to the Press Association, Ebadi – an Iranian human rights lawyer – said that the public hanging of the two teenagers on charges of involvement in homosexual acts was a violation of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, a convention that Iran signed along with the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights.

"My calls for a law clearly banning execution of under-18s has fallen on deaf ears so far but I will not give up the fight," Mrs. Ebadi told The Associated Press.

By signing the conventions, Iran agreed not to execute anyone for an offence committed when they were under the age of 18.

The reports coming out of Iran – whether from official or independent sources – are agreed that one of those executed was “a minor” and the other was 18.  The reports also agree that prior to the execution on July 19, the two teens were held in prison for 14 months.

That put the age of the older person at 17 (possibly 16) and the younger at maximum 16 (but probably younger) when the ‘crime’ was committed.

No wonder that Iranian officials are angry at the world’s reporting of the executions.  It was the fact that their ages were mentioned – not the fact that the executions took place.

Ali Asgari, and ultra-conservative member of the Iranian Parliament, is reported as saying that the two deserved to be hung in public.  “Whatever sentence is decreed by an Islamic penal system must be approved, unless proven otherwise,” he said.

He then went on to complain about foreign and domestic reporting that the two were boys.  “Instead of paying tribute to the action of the judiciary, the media are mentioning the age of the hanged criminals and creating a commotion that harms the interests of the state,” he said.

“Even if certain websites made a reference to their age, journalists should not pursue this.  These individuals were corrupt.  Their sentence was carried out with the approval of the judiciary and it served them right.”

We should not pursue the age question?  Come on, Mr. Asgari; do you really expect journalists in countries where there is a free press to keep silent on the question of age when it is clear that there has been a serious breach of International Convention on the Rights of the Child?

Effat Shariati, another member of parliament, told a state-run news agency: “The issue of the age of the convicts is created by those who are causing problems for our country”.

Then there is the question of the “third boy” and the allegation that he was raped by the two older boys.

Public Hanging for Teens Who Raped Boy Aged 13 was the headline in the Times (London) on Friday.  “The Iranian authorities have hanged publicly two male teenagers convicted of raping a 13-year-old boy at knifepoint,” was the first sentence of the report.

Yet the original report to come out of Iran – from the Iranian Student News Agency – made no mention of this conviction in its detailed report.

It was only after the story started to appear on the internet did the “rape” angle enter the picture.  A case of Iranian spin doctors?

Peter Tatchell of Outrage! thinks so.

As UK Gay News said on Thursday about the rape aspect:  “The allegation of sexual assault may either be a trumped up charge to undermine public sympathy for the youths, a frequent tactic by the Islamist regime in Iran.”

■  According to the Associated Press, the two executed on July 19 were Mahmoud Asgari, aged 16, and Ayaz Marhoni, aged 18

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