Amirhossein Pourjafar

Amirhossein Pourjafar (also stylised as Amir Hossein Pourjafar, 17 December 1999 – 4 January 2018) was an Iranian juvenile offender who was sentenced to death and executed for the 2016 rape and murder of Setayesh Ghoreyshi, a 7-year-old girl from Iran's marginalised Afghan community. Pourjafar was 16 years old at the time of the murder and was executed shortly after his 18th birthday. Pourjafar's execution sparked international outrage and renewed questions about the ethics of the death penalty.[1]

Amirhossein Pourjafar
Born(1999-12-17)17 December 1999
Died4 January 2018(2018-01-04) (aged 18)
Gohardasht Prison, near Tehran, Iran
Cause of deathExecution by hanging
Criminal statusExecuted
Criminal chargeCapital murder
PenaltyDeath (September 2016)
Details
VictimsSetayesh Ghoreyshi, 7
Date10 April 2016

Murder of Setayesh Qorayshi

Setayesh Qorayshi (Persian: ستایش قریشی) was a 6-year-old Afghan girl who was raped and then killed by Amirhossein Pourjafar, an Iranian 16-year-old boy, in 2016.[2] This incident has raised widespread media attention in both Iran and Afghanistan. Many users on social networks, either Iranian or Afghan, condemned the incident and expressed their sympathy with Setayesh's family.

After an unsuccessful attempt to burn the corpse in a bathtub full of acid, Pourjafar then called his friend and asked him to help him in fading the corpse. His friend, however, did not help the killer and instead, he informed his own father. His father in turn, called police and then the police arrested Pourjafar.[3][4][5][6][7]

In September 2016, Branch 7 of Criminal Court No. 1 in Tehran handed Pourjafar two death sentences, one for murder in accordance with the Shariah legal principle of qisas and another for rape. He was also sentenced to 74 lashes for mutilating Ghoreyshi's corpse by placing it in a bath of acid after her death.[2] The Supreme Court upheld both death sentences in January 2017.

Pourjafar had initially scheduled to be executed on 19 October 2017.[8] Iranian law allows the execution of death row inmates who committed their capital offences as minors, but it does not allow the execution of those inmates before they turn 18. Although Pourjafar would have been 17 years, 10 months and 2 days old on 19 October 2017 according to the Gregorian calendar, the Iranian legal system initially did not stay his execution as he would have been of age according to the Islamic calendar (19 October 2017 was equivalent to the Islamic date of 29 Muharram 1439, at which point Pourjafar would have been 18 years, 4 months and 20 days old, according to the Islamic calendar.) Ultimately, the execution was called off following pressure from the United Nations.[9] Assuming Pourjafar had been executed on this date, he would have been the fifth of six juvenile offenders executed in Iran in 2017.[10]

Pourjafar's execution was rescheduled to Thursday 4 January 2018, less than three weeks after his 18th birthday. Despite mounting criticism of his death sentence, he was hanged as scheduled at the gallows in Gohardasht Prison, Tehran at dawn on 4 January 2018.[11][12][13]

See also

References
  1. Trew, Bel (2017-10-18). "Iran to send 17-year-old killer to the gallows". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2018-01-28.
  2. Trew, Bel (4 January 2018). "Iran hangs teenager convicted of rape and murder". The Times. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  3. "پدر ستایش: دختر شش ساله‌ام برای خرید بستنی رفت و هرگز بازنگشت". BBC Persian. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  4. "واکنش‌ها به قتل ستایش قریشی ادامه دارد". Radio Zamaneh. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  5. "همدردی مسئولان ورامین در سوگ "ستایش" /قاتل در بازداشت و پرونده در حال پیگیری/درخواست پدر ستایش از مقامات ایران". Fars News. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  6. "واکنش‌ها به تجاوز و قتل دختر افغان در ورامین". EnsafNews. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  7. "واکنش‌ها به کشته‌شدن ستایش". Persian Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  8. "Iran: 17-year-old boy at risk of imminent execution". www.amnesty.org. 13 October 2017. Retrieved 2018-01-28.
  9. Section, United Nations News Service (2017-10-18). "UN News - Iran: UN rights experts urge country to halt imminent execution of juvenile Amirhossein Pourjafar". UN News Service Section. Retrieved 2018-01-28.
  10. "Amir Hossein Pourjafar Scheduled To Be Executed On Thursday". iranhr.net. Retrieved 2018-01-28.
  11. "Iran: Juvenile Offender, Amir Hossein Pourjafar Executed | Shabtabnews". english.shabtabnews.com. Retrieved 2018-01-28.
  12. "Statement by the Spokesperson on the execution of a juvenile offender in Iran - EEAS - European External Action Service - European Commission". EEAS - European External Action Service. Retrieved 2018-01-28.
  13. "اعدام امیرحسین قاتل ستایش قریشی دختر افغانی ۱۴ دی ۹۶ + فیلم اعدام". didyar.com. Archived from the original on 2018-01-04.
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