Tehran, Iran, Oct. 20 – A top international human rights organisation condemned Iran on Thursday for handing down death sentences to minors and continuing to issue sentences of stoning to death.

Amnesty International said that it was “outraged” at the sentences.

“Iran has executed at least seven juvenile offenders in 2005 including two minors who were under 18 at the time of their execution”, Amnesty said in a statement.

Amnesty said that a draft law currently under consideration fell “far short” of the measures which Iran had to fulfil to meet its international obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

Amnesty International also expressed concern at a stoning to death sentence recently handed down to a woman called Soghra.

“Amnesty International opposes the death penalty as the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, in violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the ICCPR, to which Iran is a state party. Article 6 of the ICCPR states: ‘Sentence of death shall not be imposed for crimes committed by persons below eighteen years of age’. Methods of execution such as stoning, which are specifically designed to cause the victim grievous pain before death are of particular concern to Amnesty International, as the most extreme and cruel form of torture”, the statement added.