The Killer of Atena Aslani Executed in Public

According to reports from Iran, the killer of Atena Aslani, a seven-year-old girl from Parsabad Moghan, was executed on the morning of Wednesday, September 20. The official news agency of the Islamic Republic, IRNA, states that the execution took place in a neighborhood in Parsabad Moghan and was public. It is reported that "thousands" of citizens gathered at the execution site. The first name of the executed individual is mentioned as "Ismail," with no further details about his identity released. The killer of the seven-year-old girl attended a non-public session in Ardabil earlier in September and was sentenced to death. Atena Aslani was murdered after being sexually assaulted in the previous June. Her body was found three weeks later in the parking lot of the suspect's shop. This individual had previously denied his confessions regarding the murder and "assault" in an interview with the Tasnim news agency. The murder of Atena Aslani, who had been sexually abused and assaulted, sparked widespread reactions among Iranian citizens on social media. This led some officials and the Iranian Teachers' Association to call for necessary education for children on sexual issues to empower them against sexual abuse. Saeed Piyavandi, a sociologist and educational expert in Paris, told Radio Farda that there are no programs in the current Iranian educational system for sexual education and empowerment of children. Recently, the head of Iran's social emergency services reported that some cases of child sexual abuse remain hidden, stating that last year, 27,000 reports of child abuse were submitted to this center, with nearly 550 of them related to sexual abuse. The Iranian judiciary had banned public executions in February 2008, stating that "the manner of carrying out the death penalty and informing about it should not cause psychological tension in society, especially among youth and adolescents." However, public executions have continued. Reports indicate that at least 33 public executions were carried out in 2016. Research in various parts of the world regarding the impact of the death penalty on crime and murder statistics has been conducted, including in the United States, where some states still implement this penalty. Research published in the reputable journal "Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology" showed that nearly 87% of experts and criminologists believe that the death penalty does not significantly affect murder rates. Other research from the University of Hawaii in two Asian city-states, Singapore and Hong Kong, over 35 years shows that murder rates in both are nearly at the same level. Singapore enforces the death penalty, while Hong Kong has abolished it since 1993. In this context, some experts, including in the United States, hold a different view, defending the death penalty in some cases and considering it a "deterrent." The Iranian judiciary also defends the death penalty while stating that international organizations and human rights advocates put more pressure on Iran than on other countries that have the death penalty. Iran, China, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan are among the countries that implement the death penalty.