BRUSSELS, April 29, 2011 (AFP) - The EU's foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton on Friday condemned the public execution of juvenile offenders in Iran last week and urged Tehran to halt the use of the death penalty.
"I deplore the public execution of four young men in Bandar Abbas, Iran, last week. At least two of the men were under 18 at the time of their alleged offences," Ashton said, adding that this contravened Iran's obligations under international child rights agreements.
The four had been convicted of murder and rape, an Iranian news agency said.
The hangings brought to 101 the number of executions so far this year in Iran, according to an AFP count based on media reports.
The European Union has already expressed concern "over the alarming rate of executions in Iran this year", Ashton also said in a statement.
The 27-nation bloc condemned "the practice of carrying them out in public or by suspension hanging," she said.
"I reiterate the EU's call on Iran to declare a moratorium on the death penalty in line with the growing global trend towards abolition of this punishment," she said.
