The European Union (EU) is urgently calling on Iranian authorities to halt the imminent execution of three persons, including a woman. She is facing death by stoning, as she is convicted of committing adultery.
In a statement late Tuesday night, E.U. Foreign Affairs chief Catherine Ashton said she was "deeply concerned" about reports that the executions of Mohammad Reza Haddadi, who was sentenced to hang for a murder he committed when he was a minor (15 years), and the woman, Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, "may be imminent."
She also renewed her call for Iran to drop the death sentence on Zeynab Jalalian, a Kurd who awaits execution for being an "enemy of God."
Calling death by stoning "a particularly cruel method of execution which amounts to torture", Ashton said: "I call on Iran to halt these executions and convert the sentences (to life)."
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch (HRW) asked the Iranian judiciary to stay plans to execute Mohammad Reza Haddadi and permanently revoke his death sentence.
The appeal came after Iranian Judicial officials asked his family members Sunday to visit their son before he was executed in the early hours of Wednesday at Adelabad prison in the city of Shiraz.
Haddadi was sentenced to death in 2004 and confirmed by Iran's Supreme Court in July 2005, for the murder of Mohammad Bagher, who was killed while driving between Shiraz and Kazeroun, a town south of Shiraz.
Since then, his execution has been scheduled several times-- for October 2008, when it was stayed on the order of the Head of the Judiciary, and then for May 27 and July 16 last year.
Asserting that Haddadi's execution order was not just unlawful, but also cruel and inhuman, Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said it was also "needlessly cruel to his family (members) that they have had to endure constant reminders during the past seven years that their child is at (the) imminent risk of execution."
Separately, Amnesty International (AI) called on Tehran to stop the execution of Haddadi.
Iran uses the death sentence for a wide range of offenses, including those convicted of committing a capital offense while under the age of 18.
Since 1990, Iran has executed more 46 persons--eight in 2008 and five last year--convicted of crimes committed when they were under 18 years. More than 135 juvenile offenders remain on death row in that Islamic country.
International law, including Article 6(5) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Iran is a signatory, prohibits the execution of juvenile offenders.
In an Islamic Republic, a person convicted of murder has no right to seek pardon or commutation from the state--a violation of Article 6(4) of the ICCPR. The family members of a murder victim have the right either to insist on the execution, or to pardon the killer and receive financial compensation (diyeh).
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.