Saman Naseem was tortured into confessing to shooting a soldier and sentenced to death at 17. Help ensure he gets a fair retrial.

Saman Naseem, a member of Iran’s Kurdish minority, was captured after a gun battle in northwest Iran which led to the death of a Revolutionary Guard, a kind of government soldier. He was, he says, blindfolded, hung upside-down and tortured into confessing to a crime he did not commit. He was just 17 years old.

Saman’s treatment has been grossly unfair. The courts used his “confession” as evidence against him, refusing to believe or investigate his allegation that it had been forced out of him. He was even made to confess on state television.

In spite of the fact that Iran has signed up to an international ban on executing minors, Saman was sentenced to death in April 2013 for “enmity against God” and “corruption on earth”, “crimes” that simply wouldn’t stand up under international law.

However, there is hope. Huge campaigning efforts have secured Saman a retrial, and now continuing global pressure can prevent a repeat of his sentence.
Help Saman get a fair trial, where forced confessions and the death penalty have no place.