Rostam Tajik (m), Afghan national, aged 20

Rostam Tajik was publicly executed on 10 December in a park in the city of Esfahan, central Iran.

He had reportedly been sentenced to qisas (retribution specified by the victim's family) by Branch 9 of the General Court of Esfahan for the May 2001 murder of a woman, carried out when he was 16 years old. The sentence had reportedly been upheld by the Supreme Court.

On 9 December, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Philip Alston, called on the Iranian authorities not to proceed with the execution.

He reportedly said, "At a time when virtually every other country in the world has firmly and clearly renounced the execution of people for crimes they committed as children, the Iranian approach is particularly unacceptable ... It is all the more surprising because the obligation to refrain from such executions is not only clear and incontrovertible, but the Government of Iran has itself stated that it will cease this practice."

No further action is requested from the UA network. Many thanks to all who sent appeals.