Iran hangs man convicted of raping and killing six-year-old Afghan girl

In a case that sent shockwaves through the country, Setayesh Ghoreyshi was kidnapped in the town of Varamin, south of Tehran in April 2016 and was murdered by Amirhossein Pourjafar.

Pourjafar was 17-years-old at the time.

Gholamhossein Esmaili, the judiciary chief for Tehran said, "the family of the victim insisted on applying the penalty which took place this morning."

Leading human rights group, Amnesty International had previously condemned the courts decision and urged Iran to reconsider.

"There is no question that this was a horrific crime and the perpetrator should be held accountable. Amnesty International supports the demands for justice voiced by Setayesh’s bereaved family and the wider Afghan community in Iran, but executing a 17-year-old boy is not justice," said Magdalena Mughrabi, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Director at Amnesty International.

"The use of the death penalty against people convicted of crimes committed while they were under 18 is absolutely prohibited by international human rights law. If Iran goes ahead with the execution next week it will be another appalling breach of its international obligations."

Mughrabi added, "the authorities' rush to send a child to the gallows in order to placate public anger is short-sighted and misguided. The death penalty is a cruel, inhuman and irreversible punishment and there is no evidence that it has a greater deterrent effect than imprisonment. Using it as a means to exact revenge only compounds its brutal effects on society."

Crimes that hold the death penalty in Iran include rape, murder, drug trafficking as well as apostasy.

Eighty five juvenile offenders were executed in Iran between 2005 and 2017. Amnesty International has identified 92 individuals currently on death row for crimes committed while they were children.

Iran claims it does not execute minors, however minors can be sentenced to death, and is carried out when the convict reaches the legal age of 18.