Iran signed up to the International Convention on Human Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, both of which forbid the execution of minors.
These hypocritical strokes of the pen offer little solace for this girl though.
In the case of Hajieh Esmailvand, a young woman found guilty of adultery with an unnamed 17-year-old boy, the Supreme Court has not only confirmed the death sentence imposed by the lower court, but changed the means of death from hanging to execution by stoning.
Hajieh’s original sentence had been for five years’ imprisonment followed by death by hanging. A month ago, the Supreme Court annulled her jail sentence – but only so that Hajieh could be stoned before December 21, and with the recommendation that she should be.
In the next two days, it seems likely that Hajieh will die from wounds caused by stones thrown by “executioners”. The Iranian Penal Code states that women should be buried up to their breasts before being stoned. Article 104 is specific about the type of stones that should be used when a woman is to be punished for adultery. They “should not be large enough to kill the woman by one or two strikes, nor should they be so small that they could not be defined as stones”. Hajieh will die slowly, in agony, buried in sand, as officials lob correctly sized stones at her head.
There are further examples of the way Iran treats other children in the article here if you have a strong stomach.
