UN rights boss urges Iran to stay executions

Geneva: United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour called on Iran on Tuesday to stay the execution of four men convicted of murders committed when they were under 18.

In a statement, she reminded Tehran that Iran had ratified international laws prohibiting imposing the death penalty for juvenile offenders.

Behnoud Shojaaee, Mohammad Fadaaee, Saeed Jazee and Behnam Zaare had been "sentenced to death for crimes that they committed when they were under 18-years old," she said. A spokesman said they had all been convicted of murder.

Arbour urged Iran "to stay the executions of these four juvenile offenders in strict compliance with its international human rights obligations."

The London-based group Amnesty International recently listed the Islamic state as the world's second most prolific executioner last year, with at least 317 people put to death, trailing only China which carried out 470 death sentences.

Murder, adultery, rape, armed robbery, apostasy and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under Iran's sharia law, practised since the 1979 Islamic revolution.