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Iran: Funeral of hanged Kurdish youth
draws 6,000 people
8.12.2007
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December
8, 2007
Paveh, Iranian Kurdistan,-- An estimated
6,000 people - almost the entire population - from
the Kurdish Iranian town of Paveh, have attended the
funeral of Makwan Moloudzadeh, 19-year-old Iranian
Kurdish youth hanged at dawn on Wednesday.
A video of the event distributed by the committee
campaigning for the abolition of the death penalty
in Iran showed 300 cars entering the town's cemetery
after the funeral on Friday. Many young people
attended the funeral ceremony.
As the funeral took place on Friday, the United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise
Arbour, condemned the execution and called on Iran
to respect international conventions against
executing juvenile offenders.
Arbour expressed her "grave concern" about the
execution of Moloudzadeh.
Nineteen-year-old Makwan Moloudzadeh was hanged on
Wednesday, while Iranian authorities had promised to
review the sentence.
He was hanged in Kermanshah prison for having had a
homosexual relationship when he was aged 13. He
reportedly had a relationship with a boy a year
younger than him. He was also convicted of the rape
of three boys, even though the accusations against
him were later withdrawn.
"It was reported that the execution was carried out,
despite his alleged victims withdrawing their
accusations and the head of the judiciary issuing an
order to stay the execution, pending a further
judicial review of the sentence," Arbour said.
His lawyer, Saiid Eghbal, told AKI on Thursday that
neither he nor Makwan's family had been warned of
the imminent execution and had been assured of a
review.
The head of the Judicial Authority, Ayatollah
Mahmoud Shahroudi, had told several humanitarian
groups and Molouzadeh's lawyer that the death
sentence would be postponed.
In Iran homosexuality is forbidden and is punishable
with the death penalty.
Since the beginning of the year, 210 people have
been hanged in Iran. Both Human Rights Watch and
Amnesty International have criticised Iran for its
record - one of the highest execution rates in the
world.
Iran is a party to international treaties which
place a legal obligation on states not to impose the
death penalty for anyone under the age of 18.
adnkronos com
Iranian Kurdistan
**
Iranian Kurdistan (Kurdish: Kurdistana Īranź or
Kurdistana Rojhilat (Eastern Kurdistan) or Rojhilatź
Kurdistan (East of Kurdistan)) is an unofficial name
for the parts of Iran inhabited by Kurds and has
borders with Iraq and Turkey. It includes the
greater parts of West Azerbaijan province, Kurdistan
Province, Kermanshah Province, and Ilam Province.
Kurds form the majority of the population of this
region with an estimated population of 4 million.
The region is the eastern part of the greater
cultural-geographical area called Kurdistan.
More about Iranian Kurdistan
KDPI
The Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran in Kurdish
(Hīzbī Dźmokiratī Kurdistanī Źran) is a Kurdish
opposition group in Iranian Kurdistan which seeks
the attainment of Kurdish national rights within a
democratic federal republic of Iran.
The current
General Secretary of the Democratic Party of Iranian
Kurdistan is Mustafa Hijri
More about KDPI- Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran
The present leader of the organisation is Haji
Ahmadi. According to the Washington Times, half the
members of PEJAK are women, many of them still in
their teens, and one of the female members of the
leadership council is Gulistan Dugan, a psychology
graduate from the University of Tehran. This is due
primarily to the fact that PEJAK is strongly
supportive of women's rights. PEJAK believes that
women must have a strong role in government and must
be on an equal level with men in leadership
positions.
More about PEJAK- Party for a
Free Life in Kurdistan
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