The child-accused Arman Abdulali, arrested on murder charges, was executed in Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj
24-November-2021
Category: Uncategorized
24-November-2021
Newsgroup: Uncategorized –
Breathing in Confinement: The death sentence of the child-accused, Arman Abdolali, was carried out in Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj on charges of murder.
According to “Breathing in Confinement”, the news organ of the Prisoners’ Rights league in Iran, Arman Abdolali, a child accused in Rajai Shahr Prison who was only 17 years old at the time of the alleged crime, was executed at dawn on Wednesday, November 24, 2021. His death sentence was carried out while state news agencies reported last night that the execution had been postponed and that Arman Abdulali had been returned to prison.
Arman Abdulali who had been transferred to solitary confinement for the sixth time in a row to serve his death sentence, was returned to prison yesterday. But once again at 8 pm, he was transferred to solitary confinement for execution. The execution of this prisoner took place without him being permitted to visit his family for the last time.
In recent weeks, UN experts and reporters had called for a halt to the execution of Arman Abdulali. They declared the execution contrary to the International Convention on the Rights of the Child as well as the international human rights treaties.
Arman Abdulali was born on March 9, 1996, and was only 17 years old at the time of the alleged murder in 2013. The child-accused was charged with murder while the victim’s body was never found.
Arman Abdulali had been accused of killing his girlfriend Ghazaleh Shakur in 2013, when he was less than 18 years old. He is said to have confessed to Ghazaleh’s murder during interrogation, saying, “Because of my great love for Ghazaleh, when she refused to marry me, I pushed her and she died.”
In the second hearing however, Arman Abdulali denied the murder of Ghazaleh saying: “I was a child at that time. I made many mistakes, but I did not commit any murder.”
Given that the victim’s body was never found and since Ghazaleh’s family had taken a leave for her from the university a few months after the alleged murder, and had renewed her health insurance, Arman’s lawyer requested a retrial which the Supreme Court accepted.
“Given that we did not find any clues to our daughter’s body and hoped that our daughter might be still alive, we took a semester off from her university,” Ghazaleh’s parents said in explanation of taking leave for their daughter.
The death sentence of Arman Abdulali, which was scheduled to be carried out in Rajai Shahr Prison on January 1, 2020, was suspended as he was given a one-month deadline to obtain the consent of Ghazaleh’s parents. According to Hussein Shamloo Ahmadi, Arman’s lawyer, “Ghazaleh Shakur’s family gave Arman a month to clarify the unanswered questions regarding the case.”
After this opportunity ended, Arman was transferred to solitary confinement six times in a row, and each time his execution was postponed.
The Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran strongly condemns the execution of Arman Abdulali and calls the international community to react strongly to the violation of international laws and conventions by the authorities of the Islamic Republic. Arman Abdulali was denied a fair trial, and his death sentence was based on his confessions under torture.