Thursday, February 4, 2016

U.N. Panel Rebukes Iran for Allowing Sex, Execution at 9 Years Old


Reuters, 04/02 17:17 CET

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA (Reuters) – Iran must reform its laws that allows girls as young as nine to be executed for crimes or forced into sexual relations with older husbands, a United Nations watchdog said on Thursday.

Iran continues to execute children and youth who committed a crime while under 18 years of age, in violation of international standards, the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child said, after its 18 independent experts reviewed Iran and 13 other countries.

“The age of criminal responsibility in Iran is discriminatory, it is lower and lower for girls, that is to say 9 lunar years while for boys it is 15. At nine a girl can marry, even if the law sets the age at 13,” said Hynd Ayoubi Idrissi, a panel member.

Nine lunar years in the Iranian calendar is equivalent to 8 years and nine months, a U.N. spokeswoman said.

The age for boys having criminal responsibility is 15, but the age for girls at 9 is “extremely low”, Idrissi said.

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Source: Euronews

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