UN human rights experts on Thursday urged [press release] the government of Iran to stop the execution of Hamid Ahmadi, a 17 year old with a death sentence stemming from Ahmadi fatally stabbing another Iranian youth. The office of the UN High Commisioner for Human Rights (OCHR) [official website] said the execution is scheduled to go forward on Saturday. Ahmadi was granted [JURIST report] a retrial in 2014, but was sentenced to death again in 2015. The OCHR experts said Iran must observe its international obligations by putting an end to the execution of juvenile offenders once and for all. Ahmadi has been scheduled for execution twice before, but both dates were delayed at the penultimate moment.

Iran’s use of the death penalty on juveniles has been a cause of serious concern for the UN and other human rights groups. The UN also called on Iran to stop juvenile executions [JURIST report] in October 2015 after Fatemeh Salbehi, a 16 year old, was executed for the murder of her husband. Saman Naseem, sentenced to death at age 17, was executed [JURIST report] in February 2015. Human rights experts were outraged [JURIST report] in June 2014 when Iran executed Razieh Ebrahimi after she killed her husband at age 17.