The EU is deeply concerned by the news of the imminent execution of Mr Behnam Zare, who was sentenced to death by a judge of the Shiraz Court for a crime committed when he was a minor.

The EU recalls the Islamic Republic of Iran’s international commitments, and specifically the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, both clearly prohibiting the execution of minors or people who have been convicted of crimes committed while they were minors.
 
The EU urges the Islamic Republic of Iran to comply with International Law and to halt the execution of Mr Zare, and of all other juvenile offenders, taking in consideration alternative sentences for juvenile offenders.

The EU also calls on the Islamic Republic of Iran, in the advent of the month of Ramadan, to announce a temporary halt to all executions in order to initiate an urgent review of Islamic Republic of Iran’s international position and to remind the Judiciary of Iran’s international obligations.
 
The Candidate Countries Turkey, Croatia* and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and the EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia align themselves with this declaration.

* Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.