After spending one week at in Evin prison in Tehran, Mohammad Mostafaei — the attorney famous for defending juvenile offenders in death penalty cases in Iran — was released on July 1 on a one billion rial bail (more than $100,000).  Mostafaei was arrested the previous week for his human rights activism during the Iranian protests, which erupted in the wake of the announcement of Iran’s election results in mid-June.  The accusations against him include charges of conspiracy and propaganda, as well as an alleged intention to harm “state security,” even though his activities have been entirely peaceful and guided by his dedication to human rights in the country. 

After his release, Mostafaei publicly thanked his supporters and fellow activists across the world and said that this experience has strengthened his resolve to fight against injustice.  However, Mostafaei is still in direct danger of prosecution, imprisonment and even torture for defending and publicly expressing his beliefs.   A potential conviction and incarceration would be a huge blow to human rights in Iran.  It will also be a major setback in the fight against the execution of juvenile offenders in the country, which Mostafaei has led for so long.

In the midst of all of the political and social turmoil in Iran right now, activist and lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei was arrested this afternoon and taken away by plainclothes officers while out with his wife and daughter. The arrest was most likely related to his human rights activites connected with the recent protests, but he is most well-known for his work representing juveniles facing the death penalty.  The officials searched Mostafaei’s home and his office after arresting him and then took him away to an undisclosed location. His family has not been informed of his whereabouts.

Mohammad Mostafaei is a lawyer who, among other things, represents those on death row who were juveniles at the time of their crimes. He currently has 25 such cases. As a signitory of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, Iran has agreed not to execute anyone for a crime committed before the age of 18, but they have ignored this agreement many many times. By Amnesty International’s count, Iran has executed 18 child offenders since 2007.

Several juvenile offenders are currently at risk of execution in Iran, including Mohammad Reza Haddadi and Naser Qasemi, and Mehdi Mazroui.

It is important for the Iranian government to know that others are watching how they treat their citizens, particularly those who work in defense of human rights. And it is important for Iranian human rights defenders to have our support. Mostafaei is, in many cases, the only hope his clients have of being spared their life, but there is little that he can do from behind bars. Please urge Iranian leaders to release Mostafaei, and to permit others to speak out without fear of persecution.

Delara Darabi faces imminent execution.  Like many sentenced to death in Iran, she was convicted of a crime committed when she was a child.  Almost no other country in the world executes juvenile offenders, yet Iran has put 16 of them to death since the beginning of 2007.  Iran’s death row continues to house scores of young men and women facing the noose for crimes that took place when they were under 18 years old.  These include Abumoslem Sohrabi and Abbas Hosseini, whose executions may also be imminent.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child forbids the death penalty for crimes committed by underage offenders, and the CRC is the most universally accepted human rights treaty there is.  (Only Somalia, and the good ole USA have failed to ratify this no-brainer of a human rights instrument; thankfully the US Supreme Court found executing child offenders unconstitutional – by a 5-4 vote – back in 2005).  Iran has accepted this treaty, so why is this still happening?

That is the question a strong human rights movement inside Iran is asking, as they seek to end the execution of juvenile offenders.  We can support this courageous effort by taking action on behalf of people like Delara Darabi, Abumoslem Sohrabi and Abbas Hosseini.

The bad news is that the United States is still among the top executioners in the world.  The good news is that the numbers are down.  According to an Amnesty International report released today, the U.S. remains in league with China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Iraq as the countries responsible for the most executions in 2008.  But the 37 executions that took place in the U.S. in 2008 was the lowest total since 1994. 

This is partly due to the moratorium imposed on executions while the Supreme Court considered the constitutionality of lethal injection, but it is also due to the steady erosion of support for capital punishment in our courtrooms, our jury rooms, our state legislatures and among the general public.  Death sentences have been declining steadily for several years.  Public support is down 15 to 20 points.  When alternatives are offered, polls show that the public is often evenly divided between supporting the death penalty or preferring sentences like life without parole.  And more and more states are engaging in serious death penalty abolition debates, including in New Mexico, where Governor Bill Richardson signed death penalty repeal into law last week.

This decline of capital punishment is mirrored internationally, where, as of the end of 2008, more than two-thirds of the world’s nations had either ceased practicing capital punishment, or had abolished it altogether.  A UN General Assembly resolution calling for an immediate worldwide moratorium on executions passed in December with 106 yes votes, and only 46 no votes, with 34 abstentions.

In both the U.S. and the world, capital punishment is increasingly a regional phenomenon.  In the U.S. the vast majority of executions take place in the South, with most of those occurring in Texas.  Globally, the vast majority of executions take place in Asia and the Middle East, with most of those occurring in China.

Since 1977, when Amnesty International first adopted the death penalty as a fundamental human rights issue, we have seen a slow but steady decline in its use worldwide; since the turn of the new century we have begun to see a similar decline here in the U.S.  While Amnesty International’s report clearly reveals deeply troubling capital punishment practices in some countries (beheadings in Saudi Arabia, hanging of juvenile offenders in Iran, large numbers of executions after unfair trials in China), the long-term trends are equally apparent, and in favor of abolition.