Despite calls by human rights group Amnesty International for an 11th-hour stay of the 17-year-old's execution, Alireza Molla-Soltani was sent to the gallows at the scene of the crime in the city of Karaj, west of the capital.
A large crowd of people had gathered to witness the hanging and security forces were present "to ensure the sentence was carried out without any glitches," the official IRNA news agency reported.
Molla-Soltani was sentenced to death last month for stabbing the popular athlete, Ruhollah Dadashi, to death in mid-July.
The teenager said at his trial he had killed only in self-defence after a driving dispute led him and two other youths into a confrontation with Dadashi, according to Amnesty.
A spokesman for the prosecution, Ali Ramezanmanesh said the boy had reached "religious maturity" and was over 18 years of age.
"The law views religious maturity as its criterion which is calculated according to the lunar calendar, therefore the convict is over 18 and there are no legal impediments" in the way of the hanging, he told Fars news agency.
The Islamic lunar calendar is some 11 days shorter than the solar calendar, with 354 days a year.
"Executing juvenile offenders is strictly forbidden under international treaties that Iran has signed up to," said London-based Amnesty's deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.
Along with China, Saudi Arabia and the United States, Iran has one of the highest numbers of executions each year.
The latest hanging brings to 202 the number of executions reported in Iran so far this year, according to an AFP tally based on media and official reports.
Iranian media reported 179 hangings last year but international human rights groups say the actual number was much higher, ranking the Islamic republic second only to China in the number of people it executed in 2010.
Tehran says the death penalty is essential to maintain law and order, and that it is applied only after exhaustive judicial proceedings.
Murder, rape, armed robbery, drug trafficking and adultery are among the crimes punishable by death in Iran.
<한글기사>
이란, 국제비난에도 미성년男 사형집행
(테헤란 AFP=연합뉴스) 이란에서 유명 운동선수를 살해한 10대 소년이 미성년자 에 대한 불법 처형이라는 국제 인권단체의 비난에도 불구하고 공개적으로 사형이 집 행됐다고 21일(현지시각) 현지 언론이 보도했다.
알리레자 몰라 솔타니라는 이 17세 소년은 지난 7월 중순 '이란에서 가장 강한 사람'으로 불리는 유명 운동선수 루홀라 다다시를 흉기로 살해한 혐의로 지난달 사 형 선고를 받았다.
솔타니는 법정에서 다다시와 언쟁이 있었고 자위 차원에서 그를 죽였다고 주장 했지만 판결을 뒤집지는 못했다.
11시간 동안 형 집행을 늦춰달라는 국제앰네스티(AI)의 요청에도 불구하고 사건 발생장소인 카라즈에서 많은 사람이 지켜보는 가운데 솔타니에 대한 교수형이 집행 됐다.
국제앰네스티는 "미성년자를 처형하는 것은 국제 조약상 엄격히 금지돼 있고 이 란도 이 조약에 서명했다"고 비판했다.
그러나 검찰 대변인은 이슬람 음력 기준에 따라 솔타니가 이미 18세가 됐기 때 문에 법적 하자가 없다고 반박했다. 이슬람 음력은 양력보다 11일 적은 354일이다.
이란은 중국, 사우디아라비아, 미국과 함께 세계에서 사형이 가장 많이 집행되 는 국가 중 하나로 올해 들어 지금까지 모두 202명이 처형됐다.
또 지난해에는 179명에 대해 사형이 집행됐는데 국제 인권단체들은 실제로 처형 된 사람은 이보다 훨씬 많을 것으로 보고 있다.
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