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U.S. | 'I comfort death row inmates in their final moments - the execution room is like a house of horrors'

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Reverend Jeff Hood, 40, wants to help condemned inmates 'feel human again' and vows to continue his efforts to befriend murderers in spite of death threats against his family A reverend who has made it his mission to comfort death row inmates in their final days has revealed the '"moral torture" his endeavor entails. Reverend Dr. Jeff Hood, 40, lives with his wife and five children in Little Rock, Arkansas. But away from his normal home life, he can suddenly find himself holding the shoulder of a murderer inside an execution chamber, moments away from the end of their life. 

10 people were hanged in Tehran's Evin prison today, Jan. 21

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Iran Human Rights, January 21: Ten men were hanged in Tehran’s Evin prison early this morning reported the Iranian state run enws agency ISCA news.

According to Fars news agency, execution of one man was postponed for one month, since the family of the man he was convicted of murdering, were not present. He watched hanging of the other 10 men before being taken to his cell, said the report.

According to a later report by ISCAnews, those executed today were identified as:

Mehdi (25), Firouz (27), Yadollah (33), Safar Ali (also named Kianoosh) (26), unidentified person convicted of murdering a man called Bakhtiyar, Behrooz (age not given, convicted of a murder in 1992), Majid (age not given), Arash (age not given), Safi (age not given), Wasim (age not given).

IranPressNews, January 21, 2009

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A possible minor offender among yesterday executions

Iran Human Rights, January 22: One of the 10 men executed in Tehran’s Evin prison yesterday, was a 21 years old man who was convicted of a murder 4 years ago, according to the government newspaper Iran.

According to the report, Molla Gol Hassan (21 years old, an Afghan citizen) was convicted of murdering Fakhreddin in December 2004, making Hassan 17 years old at that time.

If Hassan’s age and date of alleged offence is correctly stated by Iran newspaper, he was a minor at the time of committing the alleged offence, and he would be the first minor offender to be executed in 2009.

Iran Human Rights is investigating the facts about Molla Gol Hassan’s age at the time of the offence.

Iran has ratified UN’s convention of children’s right which bans death penalty for the offences committed at under 18 years of age.

However, at least 7 minor offenders were executed in Iran in 2008

IranPressNews, January 22, 2009

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