URGENT Call to Action petition to overturn execution of Safar Angooti

UPDATE: We have confirmed with Mr. Mohammad Mostafaei, lawyer of Safar Angooti, that the actual date of scheduled execution for Safar is Oct 21, 2009. There were reports that it could be as early as Oct 19th, so to be safe, we included the 19th. In Iran, there are many cases where prisoners lawyers are not notified and their clients are hanged without informing the lawyer. However, upon confirmation with Mr. Mostafaei, the actual date is in fact Oct 21, 2009. This petition is very URGENT and needs to be passed around immediately to family and friends. We will email petition results to the parties addressed, and as you know, numbers matter! Sign & pass!

To:  Secretary-General of United Nations Ban Ki Moon, U.N. High Commissioner Navanethem Pillay, Iran's Permanant Representative of United Nations Mohammad Khazaee, U.S. State Department, Amnesty International, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, H

We are requesting for an urgent call to action to overturn the scheduled execution on October 19, 2009 of Safar Angooti, who was a minor at the time of his conviction. Safar was sentenced to death in April 27, 2008 when he was 17-years-old for fighting and killing a rival suitor for a girl.

According to Etemad daily, Safar said "I have killed him but not intentionally. I did this because I was inexperienced and I was angry. I asked the family of the victim to forgive me but the victim's father said that I had killed his son Mehdi and deserve the punishment." The father of the deceased said "I don't know the reason why they got into a fight but Safar has killed my son and he should be killed".

Safar Angooti was previously scheduled for execution on May 6, 2009, but it was postponed at the last minute, and now has once again been rescheduled for execution on Oct 19, 2009.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which was ratified and signed by Iran, prohibits the execution of minors.

Article 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child states - Torture and deprivation of liberty: No child shall be subjected to torture, cruel treatment or punishment, unlawful arrest, or deprivation of liberty. Both capital punishment and life imprisonment without the possibility for release are prohibited for offenses committed by persons below 18 years. Any child deprived of liberty shall be separated from adults unless it is considered in the child's best interest not to do so. A child who is detained shall have legal and other assistance as well as contact with the family.

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, spokesperson of Iran Human rights said: " We hope UN, EU and the world community do whatever they can to stop these executions, which are clear violations of the international laws that Iran has ratified. As long as the death penalty for offences at under 18 years of age exists in the Iranian penal law, we will witness execution of minors in this country. United Nations must show that its conventions are more than just formalities and put serious pressure on the Iranian authorities in order to stop execution of minor offenders".

We urgently request the international community to swiftly act and pressure the judiciary court in Iran to review Safar Angooti's case and uphold their ratification of international laws and therefore overturn the death sentence for Safar Angooti.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The URGENT Call to Action petition to overturn execution of Safar Angooti Petition to Secretary-General of United Nations Ban Ki Moon, U.N. High Commissioner Navanethem Pillay, Iran's Permanant Representative of United Nations Mohammad Khazaee, U.S. State Department, Amnesty International, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, H was created by and written by Roya Irani (roya4iran@yahoo.com).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.