According to Norooz, an eighteen-year-old boy named Sina Paimard (سینا پایمرد) will be executed tonight for murdering a man when he was sixteen. Reportedly, the victim’s family have asked for the equivalent of $200,000. His family has been able to provide half of that money, but the victim’s family insist on the execution of Sina. Despite international treaties, Islamic Republic does execute minors in many occasions.

Sina was being prepared for the execution on September 2006, two weeks after he turned eighteen. Human Rights Watch issued a statement at that time, condemning the decision. According to HRW, Sina also suffers levels of mental disability. He is alive because he asked to play flute as the last thing before his execution. That convinced the victim’s family to cancel his execution, at least for a short while.

Update: Execution postponed for one week.