Nineteen year-old Sina Paymard must be one hell of a flute player. The family of the man he killed as a sixteen year-old drug addict were so moved by his playing – with the noose around his neck – they decided he could pay them 1.5bn rials (around £78,725) instead, a hefty mark-up on the usual 350 million rials (about £18,350) for the violent death of a man (you can usually get away with killing a woman for half that).

That was last September and earlier this week he again found himself facing execution, only to be given a further ten days to find the blood money.

That’s a further ten days to politely remind Iran that it is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Those treaties outlaw the execution of children. And waiting for them to grow up is cheating.

Thanks to Amnesty International, contacting the Iranians is just a couple of mouse clicks away. Messages like this really do make a difference.
Executing Children……Executing children II

Many businesses offer payment to those who link to them and paid-for links are often used here in preference to free links. While such links are not as obvious as other forms of pay-per-click advertising, they still don’t influence views expressed. Entries labelled ‘Reader Offer’ are advertising promotions. Current offers include:
Thomson Holidays, Thomas Cook SALE, SALE, SALE Flat & house shares find a home. uSwitch: cheap gas & electricity green energy. Hotel Chocolat’s Chocolate Tasting Club real chocolate delivered. Amazon DVD rental online. Hosiery: tights, stockings, socks, hold-ups buy online Trinny! Hip Hob Bling for all. ONSPEED mobile phone broadband internet. Amazon Jersey tax free shopping Buy an egg boiler for perfect boiled eggs … don’t be a Charlie!