Dec. 1 – The execution of a teenage boy in Iran was heavily condemned by the United Nations on Wednesday, which called for an immediate end to the death penalty in Iran.
17-year-old Hamidreza Azari died in Sabzevar Prison after he was alleged to have committed murder when he was 16. Iran Human Rights said the boy was forced to make a confession and that state media had said he was 18-years-old.
The Islamic Republic is the most active country after China for its use of the death penalty and is the world’s most prolific executioner of children and women. The United Nations has repeatedly called on Iran’s government to halt all executions.
The Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi was arrested again, following public statements he made about the alleged torture he experienced while in prison. His arrest comes less than two weeks after his release from serving a one year prison sentence for supporting the anti-government protests through his songwriting.
A post on X from Salehi’s account, which is managed by several people, said he had been arrested for “publishing false information and disturbing public opinion,” and that according to the Judiciary news agency his legal team had not filed any complaints about his case.
The post went on to say that a complaint had been filed with the court, and that those documents would be made public if necessary.
And Carnegie Europe, a Belgium-based think tank, urged the EU to provide safe online spaces for Iranian activists, in a new report.
The report raised concerns about the regime’s ongoing repression of Iranians through the restriction of internet access, and violent crackdowns on protesters including the use of Internet blackouts to minimize accountability.
