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Sina Paymard's execution DELAYED for 10 days

In an email to Stop Child Executions Campaign, Mrs. Nasrin Sotoudeh, the attorney of Sina Paymard, the Iranian teenager who was scheduled to be executed today, wrote: “The family of the alleged victim have given 10 days, however they keep insisting that Sina must be executed. The family said that whether or not  we pay the (blood) money, they will get Sina executed.”

In a report today, the Iranian Etemaad newspaper also wrote: “Although the young flute player, Sina Paymard was scheduled to be taken to the execution pole for the second time, the head of judiciary one more time ordered the execution to be delayed.”

According to the newspaper Sina’s file could possibly be transferred to a mediation council for resolution. Sina was being executed because his family were not financially capable of raising nearly $150,000 which was demanded by the alleged victims family. Sina Paymard who is now 19 years old is accused of murder at the age of 16. Last year after  Sina reached the age of 18 he was sent for execution for the first time when the alleged victims family asked for delay of execution after hearing Sina playing flute as his last wish at the execution pole.

Meanwhile Sina’s father was able to only raise $80,000 of the $150,000 which was demanded by alleged victim’s family.  Sina’s father had asked to pay the difference in installments which was not accepted by the family and therefore Sina was sent for execution the second time yesterday but in the last minutes he was given an additional week to raise the DIYEH ( Blood money)

 According to Islamic Regime of Iran’s Sharia laws , family of a victim can ask for Blood money as a substitute for Ghisas (executions).

Stop Child Execution Campaign categorically condemns the barbaric concept of blood money which puts a monetary value on human lives . Additionally such laws would favor the rich while condemns the poor to death since they are incapable of raising the BLOOD MONEY. Concept of allowing the families of an alleged victim to chose and negotiate the life and death of an accused with money (GHISAS) is against all international and humane standards of justice.

Sina Paymard was under the age of 18 at the time of alleged crime therefore according to UN conventions of ICCPR AND CRC he should not be executed nor sentenced to life imprisonment.
نوازنده ني بار ديگر از مرگ گريخت
گروه حوادث؛ در حالي که قرار بود سينا پايمرد نوجوان نوازنده ني صبح امروز براي دومين بار پاي چوبه دار برود رئيس قوه قضائيه دستور داد تا بار ديگر حکم اعدام اين محکوم به قصاص به تعويق بيفتد.

به گزارش خبرنگار ما در آخرين ساعات روز گذشته يک منبع موثق اعلام کرد با توجه به اينکه اين نوجوان مي تواند با پرداخت ديه از اعدام نجات پيدا کند حکم وي که قرار بود امروز اجرا شود براي يک هفته ديگر متوقف شد. اين منبع موثق اعلام کرد، احتمال دارد پرونده سينا براي حل اختلاف و گرفتن رضايت از اولياي دم به شوراي حل اختلاف فرستاده شود. سينا در حالي از مرگ فاصله گرفت که سه محکوم به مرگ ديگر صبح امروز در محوطه زندان اوين پاي چوبه دار مي روند.

نجات دوباره از مرگ

سينا قرار بود صبح امروز به اين دليل پاي چوبه دار برود که خانواده او نتوانستند 150 ميليون تومان پولي را که اولياي دم براي گذشت از قصاص وي خواسته بودند تهيه کنند.سينا پايمرد که هم اکنون 19 سال دارد، در سال 83 پسر جواني را با ضربه چاقو به قتل رساند. وي که نوازنده ني است در جلسه محاکمه از اولياي دم تقاضاي بخشش کرد و گفت که از کرده اش پشيمان است. سينا گفت؛ درگيري من و مقتول به خاطر خريد حشيش بود، من براي تهيه حشيش به پارک رفته بودم که بين ما درگيري به وجود آمد و من با چاقو او را زدم. من از مشکلات شديد روحي رنج مي بردم. حالا که مدت ها است در زندان هستم به کلي تغيير کردم و مي خواهم زندگي سالمي را آغاز کنم.

به رغم خواهش سينا اولياي دم حاضر به گذشت نشدند و پرونده وي با حکم قصاص پس از طي مراحل قانوني به دايره اجراي احکام دادسراي جنايي فرستاده شد. سال گذشته با توجه به اينکه سينا به سن 18 سالگي رسيده بود نام وي در ليست اعدامي ها قرار گرفت و او پاي چوبه دار رفت اما دقايقي پيش از اجراي حکم سينا به عنوان آخرين تقاضاي خود از مسوولان خواست به او اجازه بدهند ني بنوازد. ناله هاي ني سينا باعث شد تا اولياي دم تحت تاثير قرار بگيرند و اعلام کنند 2 ماه فرصت مي دهند تا خانواده وي 150 ميليون تومان به آنان بپردازند تا از اجراي حکم قصاص صرف نظر کنند. اين در حالي بود که ناله هاي ني سينا يک محکوم به مرگ ديگر را نيز نجات داد و اولياي دم در خصوص او هم اعلام رضايت کردند.

در اين مدت پدر سينا موفق شد 80 ميليون تومان پول تهيه کند، اما برادران مقتول که از سوي پدر و مادرشان براي پيگيري پرونده وکالت دارند، حاضر به پذيرفتن اين مبلغ نشدند و تمام 150 ميليون تومان را خواستند و پيشنهاد پدر سينا براي اينکه مابقي پول را در قالب چند چک بپردازد نيز از سوي برادران مقتول رد شد و آنها با مراجعه به دايره اجراي احکام تقاضاي قصاص سينا را مطرح کردند و به اين ترتيب نام سينا در فهرست اعداميان امروز جاي گرفت اما در آخرين ساعات روز گذشته توانست مهلت يک هفته يي براي پرداخت ديه بگيرد.

Iran halts teenager's execution

TEHRAN, July 18, 2007 (AFP) – Iran has halted the execution of a teenager who murdered a drug dealer when he was 16, giving his family 10 days to reach a settlement with the victim’s kin, his lawyer said Thursday.
 Sina Paymard, 19, was going to be hanged at dawn on Wednesday for murdering a 32-year-old man in a fight over drugs three years ago.
 ”(Judiciary chief) Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi halted the execution for 10 days so that we can reach a settlement with the victim’s family,” Paymard’s lawyer Nasrin Sotudeh told AFP.
 She said the family had to come up with the hefty sum of 1.5 billion rials (161,300 dollars) in blood money — compensation asked by the victim’s family — in order to save the boy from the gallows.
 ”They have raised half the blood money and some people have promised to make up for the rest,” Sotudeh said, without specifying who the donors were.
 The official blood money, cash paid out in the case of violent death, is set at 350 million rials (37,600 dollars) for a man, and half that for a woman.
 Under Iran’s Islamic law, anybody who kills another person has to pay compensation to the victim’s family who can refuse it and demand the murderer be executed.
 Paymard was to be hanged in September 2006, two weeks after he turned 18. But he asked as his last wish, to play his Iranian flute (ney) before the executioners put the rope round his neck. Touched by his playing, the victim’s family agreed to demand financial compensation instead of his death.
 Iran’s conservative judiciary maintains that minors are not executed in the Islamic republic, but in some cases murderers have been hanged after reaching the age of 18.
 In April, a man identified only as Mohammad was reportedly hanged in the southern city of Shiraz for murdering his friend when he was 16 years old.
 A human rights group headed by Iranian Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi said in a recent report that 15 people were sentenced to death in Iran in the past two years for crimes they committed as minors.

Sina Paymard's Lawyer: "Sina has been told that he will be executed tonight,"

LONDON, July 17 (Reuters) – Amnesty International made an urgent appeal on Tuesday against the planned execution of an Iranian teenager convicted of murder when he was 16.
“Should this execution be carried out, it would be in complete violation of international law,” Amnesty said in a statement.
“It would also be a morally unjustifiable, abhorrent act carried out by a government against one of its young citizens.”
Sina Paymard, a musician and drug addict with a history of psychological problems, according to his lawyer, was arrested in 2004 after stabbing a drug dealer in a Tehran park. His execution is expected to take place on Tuesday.
He was nearly hanged in September last year. But, as a last request he was allowed to play the ney, a Middle Eastern flute, and his playing so moved the family of the victim that he was granted a last-minute reprieve, Amnesty said.

Paymard’s lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, said he was now scheduled to be executed on Tuesday, although it was still not certain.
“Sina has been told that he will be executed tonight,” Sotoudeh told Reuters. “The fact that an 18-year-old goes to the execution chamber, whether executed or not, is terrifying.”

The family of the victim have said they will accept a payment equivalent to $160,000, allowing the sentence to be commuted, but Paymard’s family can’t raise sufficient funds.

“Issuing death sentence for juveniles under 18 years of age is banned under the convention on children’s rights, to which Iran is a signatory,” Sotoudeh said. “Sina was under that age when he received the death sentence.”

Iran has one of the highest rates of execution in the world, according to Amnesty. Since the beginning of 2007, at least 124 people have been put to death. In 2006, 177 were executed.

The rights group said that while it recognised Iran’s right to bring to justice those suspected of serious crimes, the death penalty was a violation of the right to life and the “ultimate form of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment”.

URGENT PRESS RELEASE sent to international wires

July 17, 2007 

WITHIN TWO HOURS OF THIS PRESS RELEASE A TEENAGER IS SCHEDULED TO BE EXECUTED.

Nazanin Afshin-Jam has just received word and is desperately working to save the Child offender, Sina Paymard who will be executed by hanging in Iran within the next couple of hours

Nazanin Afshin-Jam, human rights activist with the Stop Child Executions Campaign, singer/songwriter, and former Miss Canada is trying to appeal world leaders and the international community to grant a stay of execution for this boy.

According to Nasrin Sotoudeh, Sina Paymards lawyer, he has been taken from Reja’i Shahr prison to Evin prison to be executed. His execution order has been apparently signed by Head of the Judiciary, Ayatollah Shahroudi. She said that the execution could be carried out within hours.. Sina Paymard’s family have managed to raise 70 million of the 150 million “diyeh” (blood money), which his victim’s family will not accept.

Nazanin Afshin-Jam has asked help from the Human Rights desk at the United Nations, the Foreign Affairs Minister of Canada Peter Mackay and the International Committee against Execution and is working alongside Amnesty International to see through that Iran abides by International Human Rights Law and does not carry out the execution.

Nazanin  encourages individuals to go to www.stopchildexecutions.com to learn how to immediately help Sina Paymard who is in this imminent situation, as well as helping the 71 other minors who are currently on death row in Iran.

Iran is the only country in the world that continues to officially execute minors despite being state party the International Covenent on Civil and Political Rights and the Charter of the Rights of the Child.

Here is the statement written by the European Union regarding Sina Paymard

 Statement on the death sentence of Sina Paymard
 Date: 2007-07-17
 
 The EU is deeply concerned by the news of the imminent execution of Sina
 Paymard, who was convicted and sentenced to death by a judge of the Teheran
 court for a crime perpetrated while he was a minor. The execution is
 scheduled for tonight.
 The EU appeals to the Iranian authorities not to execute Sina Paymard. The
 Islamic Republic of Iran is a party to the International Covenant on Civil
 and Political Rights and of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
 
 Both these international binding texts clearly prohibit the execution of
 minors or people who have been convicted of crimes committed while they were
 minors. Moreover, according to the Civil Code of the Islamic Republic of
 Iran, in its article 9, the international legal texts mentioned above should
 prevail, as they are as valid as the Civil Code.
 
Nazanin
info@nazanin.ca 

European Union statement on the pending execution of Sina Paymard

 

Upon notification of the imminent executions of Sina Paymard today, the presidency of EU issued the following statement:

http://www.ue2007.pt/UE/vEN/Noticias_Documentos/Declaracoes_PESC/news_0017.htm 

EU statement on the death sentence of Sina Paymard
Date:   2007-07-17

The EU is deeply concerned by the news of the imminent execution of Sina Paymard, who was convicted and sentenced to death by a judge of the Teheran court for a crime perpetrated while he was a minor. The execution is scheduled for tonight.

The EU appeals to the Iranian authorities not to execute Sina Paymard. The Islamic Republic of Iran is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
 
Both these international binding texts clearly prohibit the execution of minors or people who have been convicted of crimes committed while they were minors. Moreover, according to the Civil Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in its article 9, the international legal texts mentioned above should prevail, as they are as valid as the Civil Code.

 

 

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGENT ALERT: SINA PAYMARD

http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE130872007?open&of=ENG-IRN

 

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE
News Flash

AI Index: MDE 13/087/2007 (Public)
News Service No: 135
17 July 2007

Iran: Execution of child offender imminent

Amnesty International has just learned that 18-year-old Sina Paymard, who was sentenced to death in Iran for a crime committed when he was just 16 years old, may be executed within the next few hours.

“Should this execution be carried out it would be in complete violation of international law,” said Malcolm Smart, Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme. “It would also be a morally unjustifiable, abhorrent act carried out by a government against one of its young citizens.”

“The Iranian government must take immediate steps to halt this execution.”

Sina Paymard, a musician, was nearly executed in September last year for murder. On the gallows, Sina’s last request was to play the ney (a Middle Eastern flute) for the last time. The family of the victim was so moved by his playing that they granted him a last minute reprieve. Instead, they asked for 150 million toumans (over $US 160,000) as compensation. Sina’s family, however, has not been able to raise the full amount.

Background
Iran continues to have one of the highest rates of executions in the world. Amnesty International has recorded at least 124 executions since the beginning of 2007, suggesting that by the end of this year the total number of executions could exceed the total of 177 executions that Amnesty International recorded in 2006.

Two recent victims of the Iranian authorities’ use of the death penalty were child offenders, whose alleged crimes were committed before the age of 18, and a third was a man who was stoned to death. The two child offenders — Mohammad Mousavi and Sa’id Qanbar Zahi — were executed in April and May respectively, in direct contravention of international law, which requires that no-one should be executed for crimes committed while under the age of 18.

While Amnesty International recognizes the right of governments to bring to justice those suspected of serious crimes, it opposes the death penalty in all cases as a violation of the right to life and the ultimate form of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.

For a full account of the Sina Paymard case and Amnesty International’s concerns regarding executions of child offenders in Iran, please see: http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engmde130592007

VERY URGENT: SINA PAYMARD SENT TO BE EXECUTED NOW

In an urgent letter Nasrin Sotudeh, Sina Paymard’s lawyer wrote that Sina has been taken from Reja’i Shahr prison to Evin prison to be executed. His execution order has been apparently signed by Head of the Judiciary, Ayatollah Shahroudi.

She wrote that the execution could be carried out in the next 10 hours. Sina Paymard’s family have managed to raise 70 million of the 150 million diyeh, which his victim’s family will not accept.

Amnesty International is trying to contact as many EU governments as possible to get them to make urgent interventions on the case. They also are contacting the UN Special Rapporteur on EJEs asking him to urgently intervene.

SCE and Nazanin Afshin-Jam is also making all efforts to make international contacts before Sina gets executed. 

TIME IS SO SHORT 

HERE ARE SOME URGENT STEPS THAT YOU CAN TAKE :

CALL YOUR IMPORTANT CONTACTS .

CALL AYATOLLAH KHAMENEI LEADER OF ISLAMIC REGIME IN IRAN:

Phone: [00 98 21]  64411
Fax: [00 98 251] 7774 2228
Email: istiftaa@wilayah.org
Email via website: http://www.leader.ir/langs/EN/index.php?p=sendletter

CALL YOUR NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES SUCH AS SENATORS ETC.

CONTACT MEDIA

For more information about Sina Paymard click here:

https://www.stopchildexecutions.com/Sina.aspx

http://scenews.blog.com/1786042/ 

Number of children known to face execution in Iran increase to 74

15 year old Nosrat is the most recent name added to the list of Iranian children facing executions in Iran. As reported before, the number has been on the rise at an alarming rate. Following is the most updated published list of 74 children on the execution ROW in Iran:

Girls (3):

  1. Delara Darabi, 17
  2. Nazbibi Ateshbejan, 16
  3. Soghra Najafpour, 13
Boys (71):
  1. Abbass Hosseini, 17    
  2. Abdolkhaleq Rakhshani       
  3. Ahmad Jabari, 15       
  4. Ahmad Nourzahi, 12   
  5. Akoo Hosseini          
  6. Ali Alijan, 17       
  7. Ali Mahin Torabi, 16       
  8. Ali Norumohammadi, 16 
  9. Alireza Movassili Roudi, 16       
  10. Amir Calehchaleh, 17       
  11. Asghar, 16       
  12. Behador Khaleqi, 16     
  13. Beniamin Rasouli, 17     
  14. Farshad Sa’eedi, 17       
  15. Farzad, 15       
  16. Feyz Mohammad, 16       
  17. Feyzollah Soltani
  18. Gholam Nabi Barahouti, 16
  19. Habib Afsar, 15
  20. Hamed, 15
  21. Hamid, 17
  22. Hamid Reza, 14
  23. Hamzeh S., 17
  24. Hani Momeni Yasaqi
  25. Hasan Mozaffari
  26. Hedayat Niroumand, 14 or 15
  27. Hossein Gharabaghloo, 16
  28. Hossein Haghi, 17
  29. Hossein Toranj, 17
  30. Iman, 17
  31. Khodamorad Shahemzadeh, 17
  32. Mahmoud, 17
  33. Masoud, 17
  34. Mehdi, 16
  35. Mehyar Haghgoo, 17
  36. Mehyar Anvari, 17
  37. Milad Bakhtiari, 16
  38. Mohammad Ahmadi 16
  39. Mohammad Jahedi
  40. Mohammad Jamali Paghale, 15
  41. Mohammad Mavari, 16
  42. Mohammad Pezhman
  43. Mohammad Reza Turk
  44. Morteza Feizi, 16
  45. Mosleh Zamani 17
  46. Mostafa, 16
  47. Mostafa Sa’idi
  48. Nabavat Baba’I, 17
  49. Na’im Kolb’ali, 15
  50. Naser Qasemi, 15
  51. Ne’mat, 15
  52. Nosrat 15
  53. Omarraddin Alkuzehi, 17
  54. Omid Sarani, 17
  55. Rahman Shahidi
  56. Rasoul Eyvatvandi, 17
  57. Rasoul Mohammadi, 17
  58. Rasoul Nouriyani
  59. Rasoul Safari, 17
  60. Reza Alinejad, 17
  61. Saber
  62. Sadegh Ahmadpour, 17
  63. Sa’eed Jazee, 17
  64. Sa’id Arab
  65. Sajjad, 17
  66. Salman Akbari, 17
  67. Shahram Pourmansouri, 17
  68. Sina Paymard, 16
  69. Siyavash Shirnejad
  70. Vahid, 16
  71. Zolf’ali Hamzeh,

   

15 year old Iranian child awaiting decision on death penlaty by Iranian supreme court

CORRECTION to English Translation of our 7/12/2006 report of an article in the Iranian Etemaad newspaper. However the information in Persian which was provided by 2 links to the original document source remained accurate. Based on a more detailed review of one sentence in the Iranian newspaper: the reversal of the execution verdict of 15 year old Nosrat is STILL TO BE determined by Iranian supreme court.

REVISED REPORT:

15 year old NOSRAT was found innocent of an alleged murder by 2 of the 5 judges in an Iranian appeal court. Nosrat was initially convicted of murder by a lower court judge. During the appeal process 3 of the panel of 5 judges confirmed the death penalty but the 2 others had voted against it, stating that the mental age and maturity must be given the priority. Since the 5 judges could not come to a unanimous decision, the case is sent to the Iran’s supreme court for final determination.

According to Etemaad newspaper who reported the news, this is the first time such consideration is being given by judges in the courts of Islamic judiciary of Iran.

Nosrat’s name was not on the lists of children facing execution in Iran published by SCE campaign, Amnesty International or the list that was sent to Iran’s parliament last month.