Iran must cease to be our quirky ally and we must seek change in the way they run things.
The 20th of November was Universal Children's Day and also philosophers day.
On this day in 1989, the U.N. General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
Like every country on earth – except the U.S. and Somalia – Iran is a state party to the CRC. Yet Iran continues to execute child offenders, including at least 7 this year, and there are around 130 juvenile offenders awaiting execution in Iran right now.
On October 16, the government of Iran seemed to announce that it was no longer going to execute child offenders. But on October 18, Iranian officials "clarified" their position by stating that the ban on child offender executions would not apply to those sentenced to retribution for committing murder. The apparent ban on child offender executions turned out to be virtually meaningless.
I'm not sure what it's claimed these children have done.
I know that earlier this year two young men were executed for being gay. It's terrible. Surely this is something we can gather around and condemn together?
