Iran executes woman despite stay of execution

May 3, 2009 Iranian authorities executed Delara Darabi on Friday for a murder she allegedly committed when she was 17.

Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, the head of the Iranian judicial system, recently granted Darabi a two month stay of execution, but it appears this was ignored. Darabi initially confessed to this murder, but withdrew her confession, claiming she was just trying to protect her boyfriend.

According to Amnesty International, Iran has executed 42 juvenile offenders since 1990. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child forbids people being executed for crimes committed before they reached the age of 18.

Darabi had been on death row for 5 years.

The Czech Presidency of the European Union 'strongly condemns the execution', and 'calls on Iran to avoid any juvenile executions and to eliminate the death penalty for juveniles from its penal code'. They claim such executions 'erode the ground for understanding and mutual trust between Iran and the European Union'.