Tehran: Iran on Wednesday publicly hanged a
teenage boy convicted of killing an athlete billed as "Iran's
strongest man," local media reported.
Despite calls by human rights group Amnesty International
for an 11th-hour stay of the 17-year-old's execution, Alireza
Molla-Soltani was sent to the gallows at the scene of the
crime in the city of Karaj, west of the capital.
A large crowd of people had gathered to witness the
hanging and security forces were present "to ensure the
sentence was carried out without any glitches," the official
IRNA news agency reported.
Molla-Soltani was sentenced to death last month for
stabbing the popular athlete, Ruhollah Dadashi, to death in
mid-July.
The teenager said at his trial he had killed only in
self-defence after a driving dispute led him and two other
youths into a confrontation with Dadashi, according to
Amnesty.
A spokesman for the prosecution, Ali Ramezanmanesh said
the boy had reached "religious maturity" and was over 18 years
of age.
"The law views religious maturity as its criterion which
is calculated according to the lunar calendar, therefore the
convict is over 18 and there are no legal impediments" in the
way of the hanging, he told Fars news agency.
The Islamic lunar calendar is some 11 days shorter than
the solar calendar, with 354 days a year.
Bureau Report
First Published: Wednesday, September 21, 2011, 16:39