According to a statement by Amnesty International, Iranian authorities have executed two teenage boys — cousins Mehdi Sohrabifar and Amin Sedaghat — in the Adelabad prison in Shiraz.
The boys were convicted of rape charges in what Amnesty terms an "unfair trial". The group further reports that their bodies bore signs of lash marks and that they did not know they were to be executed until just before their deaths.
Philip Luther, Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa Director, condemned the Republic of Iran in a statement. "The Iranian authorities have once again proved that they are sickeningly prepared to put children to death, in flagrant disregard of international law."
The boys had been detained in a juvenile correctional facility since 2019 — both of them being 15 at the time that they were charged.
Philip added that Iran had demonstrated a "trend" of executing juvenile offenders in secret without giving advance notice to their families, and highlighted the importance of international actors like the EU in pressurizing Iran to end the practice.
The report concludes with data about juvenile executions worldwide, calling Iran "the second-most prolific executioner in the world after China" and the "top executioner of children in the world". Of the 253 executed last year, seven were minors.
Iranian state media have not yet covered the event.
