AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL called today for urgent action to save the life of Kurdish Iranian Saman Naseem, who has been sentenced to hang on Thursday.

The watchdog is campaigning for a stay of execution on the grounds that Mr Naseem was only 17 years old when he was arrested, was tortured for 97 days to force him to confess and had no access to a lawyer or to his family.

Mr Naseem was sentenced to death for allegedly taking part in armed activities against the state.

“My trial was a show … I was not given any opportunity to defend myself,” he told Amnesty.

“The judge threatened to beat me a number of times and my lawyers were removed under pressure … I could be executed at any moment.

“I suffered 97 days of torture. During the first days, the level of torture was so high that I was left unable to walk. My entire body was black and blue.

“They hung me from my hands and feet for hours. I was blindfolded the whole time and could not see the interrogators and torturers.

“They used all kinds of inhumane and illegal methods to try to extract confessions from me.”

Codir, the Committee to defend Iranian People’s Rights, has added its voice to that of Amnesty and is asking Morning Star readers to help save Mr Naseem by tweeting the supreme leader of Iran @khamenei_ir urging him to stop the execution, which is illegal under international law.