June 27
IRAN:
Iran continues to pass death sentences on child offenders
Amnesty International (AI) is calling on the Iranian authorities to take
immediate steps to end the shameful practice of executing child offenders
(those convicted of crimes committed before the age of 18).
According to the report Iran: The last executioner of children, Iran has
executed more child offenders than any other country in the world since
1990.
As a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Iran has
committed not to execute anyone for an offence committed when they were
under the age of 18.
Officials from the Iranian Government and the judiciary have repeatedly
stated that Iran does not execute children. However, the facts tell a
different story.
The report states that 24 child offenders have been executed in Iran since
1990, 11 of whom were under 18 at the time of their execution. In most
cases, the authorities waited until child offenders turned 18 before
executing them. It is not clear whether the authorities understand that
such executions still violate Iran's international obligation not to
execute child offenders under the ICCPR. Real Lives -- Child Offenders
Sina Paymard, the 16-year-old reprieved at the gallows in 2006 by
relatives of the murder victim after he had played the flute.
Delara Darabi, aged 20, faces execution after being convicted of the
murder of her father's 58-year-old female cousin. She was 17 at the time
of the crime.
AI is aware of 71 child offenders who are currently under sentence of
death in Iran. However, the lack of information available on the death
penalty in the country means this number may only be a fraction of the
total.
Campaigning against the death penalty both inside and outside Iran can
make -- and has made -- a difference. In some cases, death sentences have
been overturned and the person has been released. In many more, stays of
execution have been won.
Campaigns have also prompted the Iranian authorities to publicly comment
on cases, initiate reviews of cases, order retrials and even grant pardons
or amnesties.
Human rights defenders in Iran stress that international publicity and
pressure in support of local efforts can help bring about change in the
country. AI believes that campaigning can save lives and will eventually
persuade the Iranian authorities to end the illegal execution of child
offenders and bring their legal practices into line with their obligations
under international law.
AI opposes the death penalty for anyone, regardless of their age and the
nature of the crime or the character of the condemned. Every execution is
an affront to human rights and an act of premeditated cruelty that denies
the right to life as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights.
AI's report calls for the abolition of the death penalty for child
offenders in Iran. The Head of the Judiciary should immediately implement
a moratorium on the execution of child offenders until such changes can be
made law.
The death sentences of the 71 child offenders documented in AI's report,
and any other child offenders on death row in Iran, must be commuted.
Ending executions of child offenders in Iran, while a major objective in
itself, is just one step on the road to total abolition -- but a vitally
important step that should be taken without delay.
************
Iran: End child executions
"My daughter Delara is accused of a crime that she did not commit Help me
and help us until justice is properly served. There are no signs of
humanity and justice in here." father of Delara Darabi who is awaiting
execution in Iran, 11 January 2007
Amnesty International is calling on Iran's judicial and political
authorities to order an immediate moratorium to prevent further executions
of child offenders and to amend the laws so no children who commit crimes
can be sentenced to death. In a new report, the organization said at least
71 child offenders were awaiting execution in Iran, where more child
offenders have been executed than in any other country since 1990.
"Iran stands virtually alone as a country in which child offenders -
persons under 18 at the time of the crime of which they were convicted -
are put to death," said Malcolm Smart, Director of the Middle East and
North Africa Programme. "It is high time that the Iranian authorities put
an end to this shameful practice - for once and for all - and bring
themselves in line with the rest of the international community, which has
long recognized the obscenity of executing those who commit crimes while
children."
In the report, Iran: The last executioner of children, Amnesty
International lists the names of the 71 child offenders known to be facing
the death penalty, but notes that the total number could be much higher as
many death penalty cases in Iran are believed to go unreported. Of the 24
child offenders recorded as having been executed since 1990, 11 were still
under the age of 18 at the time of their execution while the others were
either kept on death row until they had reached 18 or were convicted and
sentenced after reaching that age.
"The Iranian authorities deny that they execute children but so far this
year we have already recorded two executions of child offenders," said
Malcolm Smart. "Mohammad Mousavi, aged 19, was executed in April for a
crime committed when he was 16, and Sa'id Qanbar Zahi, hanged on 27 May
2007 at Zahedan prison, was only 17 when he was sentenced to death with 6
other members of Iran's Baluchi minority two months earlier."
The execution of Atefeh Rajabi Sahaaleh, sentenced for "crimes against
chastity" and hanged at the age of 16 on August 2004, is one of seven
cases highlighted by the report. A day after her execution, a judiciary
official told a newspaper that she was 22 years old. Rajabi's case
highlights the failure of the Iranian judicial system to protect children
and provides further evidence that some child offenders are executed in
Iran even before they reach the age of 18. The report also lists the cases
of 17 other people who were executed for crimes committed when they were
under 18.
Although executions of child offenders are few compared to the total
number of executions in Iran, they highlight the governments disregard for
its commitments and obligations under international law, which prohibits
in all circumstances the use of the death penalty against child offenders.
Apart from Iran, the only countries in which executions of child offenders
have been recorded since 2003 are China, Sudan and Pakistan; though the
Chinese and Pakistani authorities insisted that those executed were aged
18 or over at the time of the crime. In each year the number of child
offenders executed in Iran exceeded the total number of all other
executions of child offenders.
Some members of the government and the judiciary are also believed to
favour at least reducing, if not abolishing, the death penalty for child
offenders, but progress is painfully slow. For example, a draft law
proposed by the judiciary in 2001 could pave the way for the abolition of
the death sentence for minors or at least result in a reduction in the
number of offences for which child offenders could be sentenced to death,
but the draft law is still under consideration by the political and
judicial authorities.
Amid the horror of child executions and the wider problem of the death
penalty in Iran, there are some positive signs, particularly, the
emergence of a growing movement in favour of the abolition of the death
penalty for child offenders. This is being led by a courageous band of
human rights defenders and activists within Iran, and it has already
achieved some notable successes.
"Amnesty International opposes the death penalty unreservedly for anyone,
regardless of their age and regardless of the nature of the crime or the
character of the condemned," said Malcolm Smart. "Every execution is an
affront to human dignity - a human rights violation of premeditated
cruelty that denies the right to life enshrined in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights."
***********************
Iran: The last executioner of children
1. Introduction
2 weeks after his 18th birthday in 2006, Sina Paymard was taken to the
gallows to be hanged. As he stood there with a noose around his neck, he
was asked for his final request. He said that he would like to play the
ney a Middle Eastern flute. Relatives of the murder victim, who were
there to witness the hanging, were so moved by his playing that they
agreed to accept the payment of diyeh (blood money) instead of retribution
by death, as is allowed under Iranian law. Sina Paymard remains under
sentence of death in Reja'i Shahr prison in Karaj.
Iran has the shameful status of being the worlds last official
executioner(1) of child offenders people convicted of crimes committed
when they were under the age of 18. It also holds the macabre distinction
of having executed more child offenders than any other country in the
world since 1990, according to Amnesty Internationals records.(2)
In many cases, child offenders under sentence of death in Iran are kept in
prison until they reach 18 before execution. In this period, some win
appeals against their conviction. Some have their sentence overturned on
appeal and are freed after a retrial. Some are reprieved by the family of
the victim in cases of qesas (retribution) crimes and are asked to pay
diyeh instead. Some are executed.
Although executions of child offenders are few compared to the total
number of executions in Iran, they highlight the governments disregard for
its commitments and obligations under international law, which prohibits
in all circumstances the use of the death penalty for child offenders. The
executions also gravely undermine the particular obligation that all
states have relating to the protection of children one of the most
vulnerable groups in society.
How Iran was left behind
The execution of child offenders has all but stopped elsewhere in the
world. Governments in all regions have ratified relevant international
treaties that ban such executions and changed their domestic law to
enforce the ban.
1994 Yemen raised the minimum age for the imposition of the death penalty
to 18 at the time of the offence under its Penal Code, as did Zimbabwe
under its Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act.
1997 China amended its criminal law to abolish the death penalty for
child offenders.
2005 the USA outlawed executions of child offenders after the Supreme
Court ruled in Roper v Simmons that they violated the US Constitution.
Additionally, Pakistan adopted the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance in
2000, which abolished the death penalty for people under the age of 18 at
the time of the offence. The ruling was declared void by the Lahore High
Court in 2004, but in 2005 the Supreme Court reinstated the Ordinance, a
ruling that is under appeal. Meanwhile the Ordinance remains in force.(3)
The international consensus against executing child offenders reflects the
widespread recognition that because of children's immaturity,
impulsiveness, vulnerability and capacity for rehabilitation, their lives
should never be written off however heinous the crimes of which they are
convicted. The guiding principle must be to maximize a child offender's
potential for eventual reintegration into society. Execution is the
ultimate denial of this principle.
International law
By sentencing child offenders to death, Iran is contravening international
law and standards in 3 ways.
First, it is violating its treaty obligations. The international community
has adopted four human rights treaties that explicitly exclude child
offenders from the death penalty. Nearly all states are now party to one
or more of these and are therefore legally obliged to respect the
prohibition. 2 of the treaties have worldwide scope:
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which
provides in Article 6: "Sentence of death shall not be imposed for crimes
committed by persons below eighteen years of age"; and the Convention on
the Rights of the Child (CRC), which provides in Article 37, "Neither
capital punishment nor life imprisonment without the possibility of
release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below eighteen
years of age".
Iran is a state party to both treaties. It is therefore obliged to uphold
their provisions and report periodically on the measures it has taken to
give effect to the treaties.
Iran ratified the ICCPR in 1975 without reservations. Since then, none of
the successive governments has altered this position. However, when
ratifying the CRC in 1994, the government stated that it "reserves the
right not to apply any provisions or articles of the Convention that are
incompatible with Islamic Laws and the international legislation in
effect". In response, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, which
monitors implementation of the CRC, expressed its concern that the "broad
and imprecise nature of the State partys general reservation potentially
negates many of the Conventions provisions and raises concern as to its
compatibility with the object and purpose of the Convention."(4) Amnesty
International considers that if the reservation is invoked to allow for
the execution of child offenders, it would defeat the very object and
purpose of the CRC. Irans reservation should therefore be removed or, in
any event, never invoked as legal authority to allow for the execution of
child offenders.
Secondly, Iran is violating customary international law. Amnesty
International believes that the exclusion of child offenders from the
death penalty is now so widely accepted in law and practice that it has
become a rule of customary international law and so binding on every
state. In this respect, the UN Human Rights Committee has affirmed that
states are prohibited from entering any reservation allowing for the
execution of children because the prohibition against execution of
children represents customary international law.(5)
Thirdly, Iran is violating a peremptory norm one of the few rules of
international law of such importance to the international community as a
whole that all states must abide by them in all circumstances.(6) The
prohibition on the use of the death penalty against child offenders is one
such rule.
On 10 January 2005, the Speaker of the Judiciary reportedly dismissed
reports that Iran executed child offenders as "foreign propaganda aimed at
distorting the image of the Islamic Republic". The same month the
Committee on the Rights of the Child noted that the Iranian delegation
appearing before it had stated that Iran had suspended executions of
people for crimes committed before they were 18.(7) However, on 19 January
2005, the same day that the Committee examined Irans report, 17-year-old
Iman Farokhi was executed in Iran. The Committee deplored the fact that
"such executions have continued since the consideration of the State
partys initial report, including one such execution on the day the second
report was being considered."(8)
"there is every reason to believe that the Iranian Judiciary is freely
ignoring the prohibition on the juvenile death penalty. This constitutes a
clear violation of Irans obligations under the Convention on the Rights of
the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights."
Report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary
executions(9)
Towards abolition
Despite, or perhaps in response to, the Iranian authorities record, a
growing movement has emerged over recent years in Iran that is pushing for
abolition of the death penalty for child offenders. This movement includes
members of the government and judiciary. For instance, in around 2001, the
judiciary introduced a draft law, initially entitled the Law on the
Establishment of Childrens and Juveniles' Court, that would prohibit the
death sentence for minors.10 An amended version of this law, entitled the
Law on the Investigation of Juvenile Crimes, was reportedly debated by the
Islamic Consultative Assembly or Majles (Irans parliament) in mid-2006 and
passed to a committee for further consideration. The committee reportedly
passed the law back to the Majles in May 2007. Even though the law is far
from perfect for example, it excludes certain types of crime from the
prohibition of the death penalty for child offenders it reflects an
ongoing internal debate and opens up the possibility of reform.
The momentum for change within Iran is being driven primarily by a
courageous movement of human rights defenders and activists, including
lawyers, journalists and childrens rights activists. These people have
represented those facing the death penalty and prevented executions. They
have highlighted miscarriages of justice. They have campaigned for
abolition of the laws that allow executions of child offenders.
Many of these activists have been threatened, summoned for interrogation
or harassed by the authorities in other ways. Some have been subjected to
travel bans, preventing them from leaving the country. Attempts to gain
permits to hold events and rallies against the death penalty have been
blocked. Nonetheless, the activists have refused to be deterred.
Amnesty International has faced many obstacles when trying to investigate
the death penalty in Iran. It has not been granted access to the country
to assess human rights developments at first hand since shortly after the
Islamic Revolution in 1979. Moreover, detailed and accurate information
about the number of people under sentence of death in Iran is not readily
available.11 Death penalty cases are rarely reported in the press until
the sentence has been upheld by the Supreme Court, a requirement before
execution can take place. Sometimes, the first that is known about a case
is when the execution is reported. Even when earlier information is known,
it is often impossible to find out whether there have been any
developments in the case and its progress.
Iran: main child executioner worldwide
Only three other countries have executed child offenders in the past three
years, according to information received by Amnesty International. In 3
years, Iran executed more child offenders than all the other countries
combined.
2004 China executed one child offender.12 Iran executed 3.
2005 Sudan executed two child offenders. Iran executed 8.
2006 Pakistan executed one child offender.13 Iran executed 4.
2007 Iran is, at the time of writing (May), the only country known to
have executed a child offender.
Amnesty International is publishing this report in order to draw
international attention to this grave and long-standing violation of human
rights and to support the valiant efforts being made in Iran by Iranians
to stop child executions and to secure a complete end to the use of the
death penalty for child offenders.
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty unreservedly for anyone,
regardless of their age and regardless of the nature of the crime or the
character of the condemned. Every execution is an affront to human
dignity, a human rights violation of premeditated cruelty that denies the
right to life proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Ending executions of child offenders in Iran, while a major objective in
itself, is just one step on the road to total abolition but a vitally
important step that should be taken without delay.
Amnesty International is calling on the Iranian authorities, both
political and judicial, to take immediate steps to end the shameful
practice of executing child offenders. The authorities should impose a
moratorium on all such executions until the law is amended to eliminate
any possibility that those convicted of crimes committed before they
reached the age of 18 can be executed. The authorities should also,
without delay, take steps progressively to reduce the range of offences
under Iranian law which can incur the death penalty and to ensure that all
court proceedings in which defendants face capital charges are conducted
in full conformity with international fair trial standards, including the
right of appeal to a higher tribunal and to petition for clemency if
sentenced to death.
2. Iranian law and the death penalty
Under the Islamic Penal Code of Iran, which entered into force after the
Islamic Revolution in 1979, state-sanctioned killing can be the punishment
for a large number of offences.14 Amnesty International takes no position
on the Iranian legal system or the Penal Code per se, or with regard to
its provisions, including those inspired by Islamic law. However, it
believes strongly that the Iranian authorities are responsible for
ensuring that Irans legal system conforms fully to international human
rights law and standards, including the treaties that Iran is obliged to
uphold under international law.
"The overwhelming international consensus that the death penalty should
not apply to juvenile offenders stems from the recognition that young
persons, because of their immaturity, may not fully comprehend the
consequences of their actions and should benefit from less severe
sanctions than adults. More importantly, it reflects the firm belief that
young persons are more susceptible to change, and thus have a greater
potential for rehabilitation than adults."
Mary Robinson, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Capital crimes
The Penal Code distinguishes five types of crime: hodoud (crimes against
divine will, for which the penalty is prescribed by Islamic law); qesas
(retribution in kind, broadly akin to "an eye for an eye"); diyeh
(compensation), tazir (crimes that incur discretionary punishments applied
by the state that are not derived from Islamic law); and deterrent
punishments, which include fines, cancellation of licenses, closure of
business premises, forced residence, travel restrictions and denial of
other rights (such as the right to work in a particular profession).15 The
death penalty is provided for certain hodoud and tazir crimes, and is
available under qesas for murder.
Hodoud crimes
Under the category of hodoud crimes, capital offences include adultery by
married people; incest; rape; fornication for the fourth time by an
unmarried person, having been punished for each previous offence; drinking
alcohol for the third time, having been punished for each previous
offence; "sodomy"16; same-sex sexual conduct between men without
penetration (tafkhiz) for the fourth time, having been punished for each
previous offence; lesbianism for the fourth time, having been punished for
each previous offence; fornication by a non-Muslim man with a Muslim
woman; and false accusation of adultery or "sodomy" for a fourth time,
having been punished for each previous offence.
The law of hodoud also provides for the death penalty as one of four
possible punishments for those convicted of the vaguely worded offences of
"being at enmity with God" ("mohareb") and "being corrupt on earth"
("mofsed fil arz"). These terms are defined in the Penal Code as "Any
person resorting to arms to cause terror, fear or to breach public
security and freedom will be considered as a mohareb and to be corrupt on
earth".17 Further articles clarify that those convicted of armed robbery,
highway robbery, membership of or support for an organization that seeks
to overthrow the Islamic Republic; and plotting to overthrow the Islamic
Republic by procuring arms for this purpose will be regarded as mohareb.
References in other articles relating to tazir crimes, and other laws,
specify other circumstances where someone may be considered a mohareb,
which include espionage and forming a group to harm state security.
Corruption on earth is not further defined in the hodoud section of the
Penal Code, but a number of other laws provide for the possibility that
certain crimes may in some circumstances fall into this category,
including crimes such as economic corruption, embezzlement, repeated drug
smuggling, forgery of banknotes, hoarding and profiteering.
Judges apparently have a wide degree of discretion in deciding whether a
particular crime is so serious that it amounts to one of these categories
and therefore can be punished by death rather than a term of imprisonment
or other penalties.
As hodoud crimes are regarded as a crime against God, they are not open to
pardon by the Supreme Leader on the recommendation of the Head of the
Judiciary in the same way as tazir or discretionary punishments are.
However, in the case of adultery, "sodomy", same-sex sexual conduct
without penetration, and lesbianism, if the person has confessed to the
crime and repented (publicly sought forgiveness from God), then the judge
in the case has the power to seek a pardon from the Supreme Leader or to
insist on the implementation of the verdict.18
Qesas-e nafs (retribution in kind)
In cases of qesas, where a victim is killed or injured, the sentence is
retaliation or "retribution in kind". This means that in cases of murder,
the family of the victim has the right to ask for their relatives killer
to be put to death. The family can also choose to forgive the culprit and
accept payment of diyeh instead.
In the Iranian legal system, there is a distinction between cases where
the penalty is "execution" (hokm-e edam) and qesas, although people
sentenced to qesas are often reported in the media to have been sentenced
to death. In Iranian law, murder is treated as a private dispute between
two civil parties the states role is to facilitate the resolution of the
dispute through the judicial process. In this sense, the death penalty, as
in hokm-e 'edam, is regarded as being imposed by the state, whereas qesas
is imposed by the family of the victim. As a result, sentences of qesas
are not open to pardon or amnesty by the Supreme Leader.
Under international law, Iran remains fully responsible for respecting and
protecting the rights of those under its jurisdiction, irrespective of the
role that private parties may play in the administration of justice. In a
case of qesas, Iran must respect the rights of any child offender by
ensuring that the process it facilitates does not allow for the offende'rs
execution and protects the child offender from any acts by private parties
that would lead to an execution.
Ta'zir crimes
There is only one crime in the ta'zir section of the Penal Code for which
execution is mentioned "cursing the Prophet [of Islam]" (Article 513).
The death penalty is also provided for crimes covered in the
Anti-Narcotics Law introduced in January 1989, and amended in 1997.19
These crimes include smuggling or distribution of more than 5kg of hashish
or opium, or more than 30g of heroin, codeine, methadone or morphine.
People who commit a fourth offence of cultivation of narcotic plants,
recidivist (repeated) possession of opium and hashish, and the manufacture
or supply of various chemicals that can be used in the manufacture of
drugs can also receive the death penalty.
Punishments for tazir crimes are open to pardon for example, Article 38
of the Anti-Narcotics law allows for death sentences imposed under this
law to be sent to the Amnesty Commission "if there are reasons by which
the punishment can be mitigated." Moreover, repeat offenders whose
cumulative possession of heroin, morphine or cocaine or their derivatives
exceeds the stipulated amounts are regarded as "corrupt on earth" and
punishable by death that is, their crimes may be regarded as falling
under the hodoud section of the Penal Code and, therefore, would appear
not to be open to pardon. The Anti-Narcotics Law also provides for the
death penalty for armed smuggling of narcotics from media reports about
the executions of alleged armed drug smugglers, it appears that in at
least some cases, although it is not specifically stated, perpetrators are
designated as "being at enmity with God", a hodoud offence.
Iranian legislation on child offenders
In terms of juveniles in Iran's justice system, Article 49 of the Penal
Code states: "[M]inors, if committing an offence, are exempted from
criminal responsibility. Their correction is the responsibility of their
guardians or, if the court decides, by a centre for correction of minors."
A minor is defined as "a person who has not reached the age of maturity as
stipulated by Islamic jurisprudence". The age of majority in Iran is nine
for girls and 15 for boys, implying that children of these ages and above
can be sentenced to death. Amnesty International is aware of one girl on
death row in Iran for a crime committed when she may have been only 13,
and several cases of boys who were 15 at the time of the offence, and one
who may have been only 14.
Officials from the Iranian Government and the Judiciary have repeatedly
stated that Iran does not execute children, even though it is known that
some offenders have been executed before they reached the age of 18.
However, in most cases the authorities wait until child offenders have
turned 18 before executing them. It is not clear whether the authorities
understand that such executions still constitute executions of child
offenders and therefore violate Irans international obligations.
Juvenile Crimes Investigation Act
Legislation that would reportedly prohibit the use of the death penalty
for offences committed by people under the age of 18 was put before the
Majles in around 2001, and in mid-2006 the Majles gave an initial reading
to the Juvenile Crimes Investigation Act. In May 2007, the draft law was
reportedly passed back from a committee for reconsideration by the Majles.
If finally passed, the legislation would still have to be approved by the
Council of Guardians, which has the responsibility for checking its
adherence to Islamic law, before it enters into force. It is believed that
the Council of Guardians is unlikely to approve the legislation.
Although the draft law has some welcome provisions, it also contains
serious flaws that would limit its effectiveness in preventing the
execution of child offenders. These flaws fall into five areas: confusion
over which courts have jurisdiction in juvenile cases; the procedures to
stop an execution; the right to appeal; the granting of pardons; and the
distinction between qesas and the death sentence.
Jurisdiction: Article 14 of the draft law provides that prosecution,
investigation and trial in any case where a juvenile is accused of a crime
will be undertaken by the juvenile court, provided that the punishment for
the crime is less than three years imprisonment or that it involves a
crime against chastity. However, Article 1 states that "[a]ll the offences
of persons younger than 18 shall be investigated by the Juvenile Court."
This is the specialized court that would be established by the draft law.
At the same time, Article 10 states that "[i]n the event that children and
juveniles commit offences, the investigation of which falls within the
jurisdiction of the Provincial General Court, the Provincial General Court
specifically assigned to investigate Juvenile Offences shall investigate
them as directed by the present Law."
Article 1 seems to be at variance with Article 10. In Article 1, all cases
of crimes by juveniles will be investigated by the newly established
juvenile court, while Article 10 retains the jurisdiction of the
Provincial General Court.
It is crucial for all laws to be clear about which court has jurisdiction
over which cases. The draft law therefore needs to be clarified or
amended.
Stopping an execution: Article 17 states: "In crimes other than those
requiring the punishment of hadd [divine punishment], the enforcement of
the judgment shall be stopped if the two parties reach a compromise during
its enforcement or if the complainant withdraws the complaint."
This implies that in hodoud (plural of hadd) cases, the punishment cannot
be stopped. In such cases, there appears to be no possibility of remission
of sentence after judgement, even if a case is dropped by the complainant,
who can be either a private individual or the prosecution.
Right to appeal: Article 27 states: "The juvenile courts rulings and
decisions can be appealed against in all cases [emphasis added]. The
deadline for the appeal is 20 days from the final notification [of the
verdict]".
This right to appeal is broader than in the Law on Appeals, which
specifies the crimes that may be appealed,20 and implies that the right to
appeal is granted in all cases, including hodoud and qesas. Appeal goes to
a higher court (usually an appeal court), and then the Supreme Court, and
can challenge the judgement and sentence, or errors in the process. A
successful appeal does not necessarily guarantee a lesser sentence. Where
an appeal is upheld, the case is generally sent back to a lower court for
retrial. The lower court can again pass a death sentence, which would be
subject to the same process of approval as before and the possibility that
a higher court could again choose to reject the sentence. In this event,
the case would generally be passed back to a lower court once again,
leading to the possibility that someone could be sentenced to death an
indefinite number of times.
Forgiveness/pardon: Article 30 states that all juvenile crimes are
pardonable. It adds that in the event of pardon by the plaintiff,
"prosecution, the conduct of investigations or the carrying out of the
sentence will be stopped."
This is referring to tazir and deterrent punishments as laid down in
Article 12 of the Penal Code and further defined in Articles 16 and 17
(see above). This clearly excludes hodoud and qesas punishments from the
right to pardon. Since most death sentences are imposed for crimes in
these categories, most child offenders sentenced to death would still be
unable to seek pardon for their crime if the draft becomes law.
Death sentences: Articles 33 and 35 specify the different punishments that
can be imposed on juveniles. They both state that in cases of juveniles
aged between 15 and 18, crimes punishable by death or life imprisonment
for adults will be replaced by 2 to 8 years' detention at a correctional
centre.
While this seems to be a very positive aspect of the law, it is not clear
if it covers both qesas and hodoud cases. As shown above, the Iranian
judicial authorities appear to distinguish between the death sentence
(hokm-e edam) and the judicially sanctioned retaliatory killing of a
convicted murderer (qesas), and therefore consider murder to be punishable
by retribution, not a death sentence handed down by a court.
The distinction was made explicit on 11 October 2005 by the late Minister
of Justice, Jamal Karimirad, acting in his capacity as spokesperson for
the Iranian Judiciary, when he told the Iranian Students News Agency that
if this law was passed by the Majles, those under the age of 18 would no
longer be executed (hokm-e edam). However, he made a distinction between
qesas and other crimes carrying the death penalty, stating that qesas was
a private not a state matter, and as such would not be covered by the
draft law, although he did say that attempts were being made to address
the issue of qesas as well.
It is unacceptable for the Iranian authorities to separate cases of murder
from other crimes carrying the death penalty. Legislation is urgently
required, whether in the form of the draft law, appropriately amended, or
in some other form, to ensure that no one in Iran is sentenced to death
for any crime, including murder, committed when they were under the age of
18.
The judicial process
In Iran, most criminal cases come before General (sometimes referred to as
Public) Courts (Dadgah-e Omomi). Cases relating to national security
which included espionage, insulting or defaming the founders of the
Islamic Republic and the Supreme Leader, drug smuggling and profiteering
come before Revolutionary Courts21 (Dadgah-e Enghelabi). These were
established following the Islamic Revolution in 1979 as a temporary
measure, but later enshrined in law. Both courts are governed by the Code
of Criminal Procedures for General and Revolutionary Courts.22
Under the Law on Appeals23 and the Code of Criminal Procedures24 all death
sentences, whether in hodoud, tazir or qesas cases, are subject to appeal,
which must be lodged within 20 days of the verdict. If the sentence is
confirmed on appeal, the case is sent to the Supreme Court for
consideration. If a fault is found with the conviction or sentence by the
appeal court or the Supreme Court, the case is usually sent back to a
lower court for retrial.
If the Supreme Court confirms the death sentence, the defendant can lodge
an objection, and another branch of the Supreme Court, sitting as the
discernment or review body (shobe-ye tashkhis), will review the case.
Otherwise, the verdict is sent to the Head of the Judiciary, who reviews
the case before sending it to the judge responsible for implementing
verdicts. The Head of the Judiciary has the power to issue a stay of
execution.
In qesas cases, once the verdict has been approved by the Supreme Court,
it is sent to the Council for the Reconciliation of Differences (Shura-ye
hall-e ekhtelaf). The Council tries to mediate between the defendant and
the victims family to enable the payment of diyeh. For diyeh to be paid,
all the blood relatives of the victim must forego their right to demand
the killers death, and to accept the diyeh, which the killer (often with
the help of his family) must be able to pay. Iranian officials have stated
that strenuous efforts are made to win the agreement of blood relatives to
accept diyeh, particularly in cases of child offenders.25
Under Article 24 of the Penal Code, the Supreme Leader has the power to
grant pardons or to reduce or commute sentences, on the recommendation of
the Head of the Judiciary "in accordance with Islamic principles", a
phrase that appears to exclude qesas and hodoud26 cases, where the right
to pardon is not viewed as lying with the realm of the state. The
Regulations Governing the Amnesty Commission state in Article 10(1) that
all death sentences can be subject to pardon, with the exception of
qesas-e nafs (presumably on the grounds that the right to pardon lies
solely with the victim's blood relatives). However, Article 9(7) states
that crimes such as espionage, corruption (ertesha), rape (zena ba onf),
kidnapping and armed robbery are excluded from pardon. These crimes can,
in some or in all circumstances, carry the death penalty, when classified
as hodoud offences.
This appears to mean that for many types of crimes punishable by death in
Iran, there is no, or only very limited, possibility of pardon or
commutation by the state. This contravenes Article 6(4) of the ICCPR which
states:
"Anyone sentenced to death shall have the right to seek pardon or
commutation of the sentence. Amnesty, pardon or commutation of the
sentence of death may be granted in all cases."27 Most of the child
offenders currently on death row whose cases are known to Amnesty
International were sentenced to qesas, or to death for rape. Therefore,
they cannot seek a pardon or commutation from the Head of State. Rather,
their fate, once their death sentence has been confirmed, lies in the
hands of the Head of the Judiciary.
Unfair trials
Under international human rights law, those suspected of or charged with
crimes punishable by death are entitled to the strictest observance of all
fair trial guarantees at all stages of the legal proceedings, including
during the investigation stage, as well as to certain additional
safeguards. The UN Human Rights Committee has stated that "the death
penalty should be quite an exceptional measure" and should only be handed
down after a trial that observes all the procedural guarantees for a fair
hearing.28 Any death sentence imposed after a trial that does not conform
to all fair trial guarantees would amount to arbitrary deprivation of the
right to life.
In Iran, serious failings in the justice system commonly result in unfair
trials, including in cases where child offenders and other defendants face
the death penalty. These failings include: lack of access to legal counsel
and to a lawyer of ones choice; ill-treatment in pre-trial detention;
allowing confessions extracted under duress to be used in proceedings; the
use of detention centres outside the official prison system; denial of the
right to call defence witnesses; failing to give adequate time to the
defence to present its case; and imprisoning defence lawyers if they
protest against unfair proceedings.29
For example, a defendant's right to legal counsel is one of the key
safeguards for a fair trial, enshrined in international law,30 and applies
to all stages of the judicial process. The Human Rights Committee and
other human rights bodies have further recognized that the right to a fair
trial requires that any accused should have access to a lawyer during
detention, interrogation and preliminary investigations. The right of
detainees to be assisted by a lawyer when charged is also enshrined in the
UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers. Principle 6 notes specifically
that individuals charged with serious crimes should have access to a
lawyer "of experience and competence commensurate with the nature of the
offence," who should be provided free of charge if the defendant does not
have the means to pay for such services.
The Committee on the Rights of the Child stresses that "legal or other
appropriate assistance must be present. This presence should not be
limited to the trial before the court or other judicial body, but also
applies to all other stages of the process, beginning with the
interviewing (interrogation) of the child by the police."31
In Iran, however, defendants only have the right to a lawyer after
investigations are complete and they have been formally charged. This
results in prolonged periods of incommunicado detention as well as
interrogation without the presence of lawyers, both of which facilitate
the use of torture or other ill-treatment to obtain confessions. The
Islamic Penal Code specifies that confessions to hodoud and qesas offences
may be used as a sole means of proving an offence.32 Lawyers may be
present during committal proceedings, but are not allowed to speak until
the end of proceedings. In "sensitive" cases, the judge has the
discretionary power to exclude lawyers from the hearing that decides
sentencing.33 If a defendant cannot afford a lawyer of their own choice,
one is appointed for them by the court.
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, reporting on its visit to
Iran in February 2003, noted: "[T]he absence of a culture of counsel,
which seriously undermines due process The Group noted that many ordinary
law prisoners have no understanding of the role of counsel and do not
request the assistance of State appointed counsel. The latter are in any
event few in number, and largely unmotivated owing to the low pay. As for
the choice of counsel by political prisoners, this is increasingly
difficult owing to the serious risk of harassment."34
International fair trial standards include the right to a public hearing,
the right to trial by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal, the
right not to be compelled to confess guilt, and the right to equality
before the law and courts. These are embodied in Article 14 of the ICCPR
and Article 40 of the CRC.
In Iran, the judge may refuse a public trial if it is deemed incompatible
with accepted principles of "morality or public order".35 Access to
clients by lawyers is at the discretion of the judge in cases that relate
to national security or "corruption".36 Trials before Revolutionary Courts
are almost always held in secret, and proceedings are often summary.
The rules of evidence in Iran are based on the constitutional principle of
the presumption of innocence. However, this is limited in practice by the
importance attached to confessions in Iranian courts.37
Equality before the law is undermined by the rules of evidence in Iran.
Evidence by a man is equivalent to that of two women, and in cases dealing
with some offences, such as adultery, testimony by a woman alone or given
jointly with just one man cannot be accepted as evidence.38 The right to
trial by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal is undermined in
Iran because the Judiciary lacks the structural independence guaranteed by
the Constitution. There is also a lack of separation of powers between the
investigator, prosecutor and judge in some parts of the country. In 1994,
in a reform of the Revolutionary and General Courts, these functions were
vested in the presiding judge of the case under investigation. In 2002,
the prosecution function was reinstated in General and Revolutionary
Courts.39 However, at the time of writing, it appears that this has not
been rolled out throughout Iran. In at least some areas outside the major
towns, the functions of investigator, prosecutor and judge remain merged:
judges both investigate and prosecute allegations, and then pass sentence,
making an impartial hearing impossible. Amnesty International continues to
receive reports of summary trials, particularly before Revolutionary
Courts in the provinces, where defendants are brought before a single
judge who questions them briefly, without the presence of a lawyer, and
then hands down a sentence.
3. Executions of children
"Amnesty Internationals sources of information are not reliable people
under 18 are not executed."
Judiciary spokesperson, Jamal Karimi-Rad, 8 May 200540
"There is much talk about the execution of young people under 18 in Iran
which is not true although the penal laws provide for the execution of
those under-18, that sentence has not been enforced in our country until
now In cases concerning murder, where the culprit is under 18, utmost
effort is made to win the satisfaction of the blood relatives."
Nasser Seraj, Deputy State Public Prosecutor for Security Issues, May
200741
The Iranian government denies that it executes child offenders. The facts
tell a different story. Amnesty International has recorded 24 executions
of child offenders in Iran since 1990, 11 of whom were under 18 when
executed (see Appendix I). 8 of these executions are highlighted below.
Atefeh Rajabi Sahaaleh
Atefeh Rajabi Sahaaleh was hanged in public on 15 August 2004 in the
centre of Neka, Mazandaran province. She was 16 years old at the time and
had been sentenced to death for a fourth conviction of "crimes against
chastity". The next day, Etemad newspaper, quoting a judiciary official,
stated that Atefeh Sahaaleh was 22.
A womens activist who went to Neka to investigate the case was shown by
the family a copy of Atefeh Sahaalehs birth certificate and the death
certificate issued by the authorities following the execution. The year of
birth on both documents was 1988. These documents were also shown to the
producers of a secretly filmed BBC documentary about her execution.42
Atefeh Sahaaleh was arrested several times as a child by a branch of the
Revolutionary Guard responsible for public morality and order, during a
raid on a caf, during a raid on a party, and after she was found alone in
a car with a boy. She received her first conviction for "crimes against
chastity" when she was 13. On this occasion, she was sentenced to a short
prison term and 100 lashes. According to the BBC documentary, she was
allegedly abused by guards in Behshahr prison. Atefeh Sahaaleh was
convicted of "crimes against chastity" on 2 subsequent occasions, and
received further sentences of flogging and short terms in prison.
Shortly after her release after her third term in prison, Atefeh Sahaaleh
was arrested by members of the morality police while at home alone.
According to reports, the reason given for the arrest was a petition that
accused Atefeh Sahaaleh of being a "source of immorality" and of having
sexual relations with various men outside of marriage. The petition
claimed to be from Neka residents, but only carried the signatures of
local police officials.
Atefeh Sahaaleh was charged with "acts incompatible with chastity" and was
tried by Judge Rezaie in a Revolutionary Court in the neighbouring town of
Behshahr. She had a court-appointed lawyer.
During the trial, she was said to have been interrogated fiercely by Judge
Rezaie and to have confessed to having had sexual intercourse with a man
named Ali Darabi. According to reports, she had entered into an abusive
relationship with the 51-year-old man three years earlier, at the age of
13, but had told no one.43
During the trial, Atefeh Sahaaleh is said to have lost her temper, shouted
at the judge that she had been the victim of the older man, and thrown off
her headscarf in protest. The judge reportedly reprimanded her and later
said that she had "undressed in public".44 Atefeh Sahaaleh was convicted
of "crimes against chastity" and was sentenced to execution by hanging
because it was her fourth conviction on this charge. It is believed that
the sentence was passed three months before her execution in about May
2004. Ali Darabi was also sentenced to receive around 100 lashes.
According to investigations by Iranian human rights activists and
journalists, Atefeh Sahaaleh suffered from mental illness and had been
assessed as a suicide risk by a psychologist. Following the death
sentence, a petition was signed by 43 Neka residents calling for the
execution not to be carried out because "she suffers from severe
psychological issues".45 In her own letter of defence, Atefeh Sahaaleh
wrote: "There are medical records which show that I suffer from mental
impairment, and during certain times of the day, of complete mental
lapses. I would like Your Honour to listen to my request for freedom".46
The case was heard unusually quickly by the Supreme Court in Tehran, which
upheld the death sentence. According to reports, Judge Rezaie personally
took the case to the Supreme Court, which heard the case in one day. The
Supreme Court verdict, filmed by the BBC, read: "Atefeh Rajabi Sahaaleh,
age 22, daughter of Safar. Since she has confessed to this crime, and it
is her fourth time, we issue the verdict of execution. Execution will take
place in a public place in Neka, so that the public may learn from it."
According to eyewitnesses, as Atefeh Sahaaleh was taken to the crane for
execution, she repeatedly asked Allah for forgiveness. Judge Rezaie, who
had passed the death sentence on her and then, according to reports, had
been instrumental in taking the case to the Supreme Court, tied the noose
around her neck. When asked later why the case was rushed, Judge Rezaie
was reported to have said that, in his opinion, there was too much
"immorality" in Neka.
Atefeh Sahaalehs father was not informed that his daughter was going to be
executed that day, and found out from a family member after the event. He
was therefore denied the opportunity to say goodbye to his daughter.
The mistake about Atefeh Sahaalehs age only came to light after the
execution when her family received her personal effects and death
certificate.
Shadi Sadr, a leading human rights defender and lawyer, lodged a complaint
against Judge Rezaie for wrongful execution on behalf of Atefeh Sahaalehs
family. 3 years on, no decision has yet been made regarding this
complaint.
Iman Farrokhi
Iman Farrokhi was executed in Tehran on 19 January 2005 for a crime
committed when he was 17 years old. He was accused of fatally stabbing
Mohammad Ali Ghasemzadeh while hiking in the mountains outside Tehran in
October 2000. Iman Farrokhi reportedly fled the scene, but was arrested on
21 November 2000. He was detained at a youth detention facility, but
escaped in February 2001.47
In November 2002, Iman Farrokhi was sentenced to three years in prison for
carrying an illegal weapon and theft, and was transferred to a prison in
Jiroft, southern Iran. This case led to his identification, as a result of
which he was brought to trial before a childrens court in Tehran for the
murder. Iman Farrokhi reportedly confessed to killing Mohammad Ali
Ghasemzadeh and was sentenced to 80 lashes for the consumption of alcohol,
and to qesas for murder.48 In 2004, the death sentence was upheld by
Branch 4 of the Supreme Court.
Ayaz Marhoni and Mahmoud Asgari
Ayaz Marhoni and Mahmoud Asgari, both Iranian Arabs, were publicly hanged
in a square in Mashhad on 19 July 2005. Amnesty International believes
that Mahmoud Asgari was 15 or 16 and Ayaz Marhoni was 16 or 17 at the time
of the crime. Both were flogged 228 times before their execution. The true
nature of their alleged crime is disputed.
Photographs of the 2 boys being transported to their execution and of the
execution itself were publicized around the world, and prompted
international condemnation. One photo shows them crying while being
interviewed by journalists en route to their hanging. Another shows the
boys blindfolded, standing on a truck underneath metal gallows, with 2
masked men standing behind them, fixing the nooses around their necks.
Another shows them dangling from the crane. Witnesses said it took around
20 minutes for Ayaz Marhoni and Mahmoud Asgari to die, and a large crowd
appears to have watched the execution.
The official report, covered in the daily Quds newspaper and the Iranian
Students News Agency (ISNA) website, states that they were convicted of
"homosexual acts by coercion",49 understood to be the rape of a
13-year-old boy. They were also convicted of drinking alcohol, theft and
causing public disorder, for which they were sentenced to flogging. Quds
newspaper contained a detailed account, apparently based on statements by
the 13-year-old boys father, of his sons rape at knifepoint.50 Mahmoud
Asgari was also reported to have been convicted of extortion and assault
with a knife, and Ayaz Marhoni of intentional wounding. For these offences
they were sentenced to fines and terms of imprisonment. They were executed
before serving their prison sentences. Since the executions, some sources
have said that Ayaz Marhoni and Mahmoud Asgari were a couple who were
executed for engaging in consensual sexual acts with each other, and
possibly with the 13-year-old boy. Other sources dismiss this account.
Amnesty International is not in a position to make a judgement about the
true reason for the execution. It is denied research access to Iran and
therefore could not meet those close to the case. No court documents were
ever made available, and it is believed that the trial was closed. The
case, and the controversy surrounding it, demonstrates the difficulties in
gathering and verifying information on Iran.
Rostam Tajik
Rostam Tajik, a 20-year-old Afghan national, was executed in public in
Esfahan on 10 December 2005. The previous day the UN Special Rapporteur on
extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions had called on the Iranian
authorities not to proceed with the execution. Hamshahri newspaper
described the scene:
"The convict, an Afghan called Rostam, was tied hand and foot, and walked
in between two officers, with shivering legs The audience, by applauding,
asked for the execution to take place. A young doctor checked Rostam and
after confirming his health, announced that the accused is ready for
execution Two officers took him to the place of execution. They put the
rope around his neck and he was executed".51Rostam Tajik had been
sentenced to qesas by Branch 9 of the General Court of Esfahan for the
murder of a woman, Nafiseh Rafii, in May 2001 when he was 16 years old.
Majid Segound
Majid Segound (or Sagvand) was 17 when he was executed in public in
Khorramabad, capital of Lorestan province, on 13 May 2006, along with an
unnamed 20-year-old man. According to Iranian press reports, the 2 had
abducted, raped and murdered a 12-year-old boy, Kamran, in April 2006.
Majid Segound and the unnamed man reportedly confessed to the crime during
interrogation. The 2 were tried in an extraordinary session an
accelerated process and were executed just 1 month after the murder.
Mohammad Mousavi
Mohammad Mousavi was reportedly hanged on 22 April 2007 in Shiraz when he
was aged 19. His family are said not to have been notified of his
execution. According to reports, Mohammad Mousavi was sentenced to qesas
for a murder committed when he was 16.
Said Qanbar Zahi
Said Qanbar Zahi was hanged in Zahedan prison on 27 May 2007. A member of
Irans Baluchi minority, he was sentenced to death at the age of 17 along
with six other Baluchi men in March 2007. Information provided to Amnesty
International suggests that the seven may have been arrested because of
their family ties to those suspected of involvement in blowing up a bus
carrying members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps on 14 February 2007
in Zahedan, in which at least 14 people were killed.
According to media reports, Said Qanbar Zahi and the six others all
"confessed" on Iranian state television to a number of crimes that
allegedly took place in Sistan-Baluchistan province, including attacks and
carjackings. The "confessions" linked an Iranian Baluchi armed opposition
group, Jondallah, also known as the Iranian Peoples Resistance Movement
(Jonbesh-e Moqavemat-e Mardom-e Iran), to these crimes, and to the attack
on the bus.52 Unconfirmed reports suggest that those who "confessed" were
tortured, including by having bones in their hands and feet broken, by
being "branded" with a red-hot iron, and by having an electric drill
applied to their limbs, shredding their muscles.
According to Iranian state television, Said Qanbar Zahi was tried on 11
March 2007. The report said that he was tried in open court attended by
the families of his alleged victims. He was accused of murder,
participation in a bombing in December 2006 and of guarding hostages in
Pakistan in 2006.
Particular concerns about the fairness of trials of Baluchis, especially
in the wake of the bus bombing, were raised by the summary trial and
execution of an Iranian Baluchi man, Nasrollah Shanbeh-Zehi, who was also
shown "confessing" to the bus bombing on Iranian television on behalf of
Jondallah. He was executed in public at the site of the bombing on 19
February 2007, five days after his trial.
4. Children facing execution
Amnesty International is aware of 71 child offenders who are currently
under sentence of death in Iran (see Appendix II), eight of whom are
highlighted below. However, the lack of information made available on the
death penalty in Iran means that this number may only be a fraction of the
true total. It is also possible that some of these child offenders may
have been executed since information about their death sentences reached
Amnesty International.
According to international human rights standards, detainees under the age
of 18 in detention should be held in separate facilities to adults. In
Iran, juvenile offenders are normally held separately from adults in
juvenile detention facilities known as Centres of Correction and
Rehabilitation run by the Iranian Prison Service. Prior to 2005, most
child offenders on death row in the Tehran area were held in the Tehran
Centre of Correction and Rehabilitation. However, following the escape
from this centre of Hossein Gharabaghloo (see below), all other child
offenders held there on death row were moved to Reja'i Shahr prison in
Karaj, outside Tehran, where conditions are said to be harsh.
Sina Paymard
Sina Paymard, the young man reprieved at the gallows in 2006 by relatives
of the murder victim after he had played the flute (see Introduction), was
a 16-year-old drug addict at the time of the crime. In October 2004 he had
gone to a park in Tehran to try and buy cannabis. When a fight broke out
between him and the man from whom he was trying to buy cannabis, he
stabbed the man with a pocket knife. He said that he was under the
influence of drugs at the time. Branch 71 of Tehran Province Court
sentenced Sina Paymard to qesas for murder. Branch 33 of the Supreme Court
upheld the sentence.
According to his lawyer, human rights defender Nasrin Sotudeh, Sina
Paymard had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder by a psychiatrist, for
which he was treated between 2001 and 2002. His lawyer says that the
sentencing court did not properly consider evidence that Sina Paymard was
suffering from a mental disorder, and in November 2006 submitted new
documents to the court, calling for a review of the case.
Sina Paymard's father described the emotional day of his sons planned
execution: "We asked the officials to allow us to see Sina once more.
Nobody listened to us. Then the prison officer said Sina had asked for his
instrument. Sina plays the flute. I gave it to him that was Sinas last
wish at the gallows He started playing and all the families started crying
One of the women, who was apparently one of the [representatives of the
murder victim], went to the other party and [agreed to accept blood
money]. She then went to the other [members of the victims family] and
they listened to her."53
In January 2007, the Head of the Judiciary granted Sina Paymard a stay of
execution while negotiations took place between his family and his victims
family over the diyeh. The victims family demanded diyeh of more than
US$160,000, which Sina Paymards family struggled to collect. In April
2007, after the family finally raised the money, the victims family
reportedly refused to accept the payment.
Sina Paymard remains held under sentence of death in Rejai Shahr prison in
Karaj. Delara DarabiDelara Darabi, aged 20, faces execution after being
convicted of the murder of her fathers 58-year-old female cousin Mahin in
September 2003. She was 17 at the time of the crime. Delara Darabi
initially confessed to the murder, but later retracted her statement. She
said that her boyfriend, Amir Hossein Sotoudeh, was the murderer and that
she had admitted responsibility to protect him from execution, claiming
that he had told her that as she was 17 she could not be executed.54
Delara Darabi was initially sentenced to death by Branch 10 of the General
Court in Rasht on 27 February 2005. In January 2006, the Supreme Court
found "deficiencies" in the case and returned it to a children's court in
Rasht for retrial.
Following 2 trial sessions in January and June 2006, Delara Darabi was
sentenced to death for a 2nd time by Branch 107 of the General Court in
Rasht. Amir Hossein Sotoudeh was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for
complicity in the murder. Both received sentences of 3 years' imprisonment
and 50 lashes for robbery, and 20 lashes for an "illicit relationship".
Delara Darabi's death sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court on 16
January 2007.
Delara Darabi has been detained in a women's prison in Rasht since her
arrest in 2003. Her detention conditions have been poor, and she has
suffered from depression in prison. Her father has said that she is not
fed properly and is treated badly by the prison staff. Delara Darabi has
had only sporadic access to her family. Visitation rights are frequently
denied and the family have sometimes been turned away on arrival.
Open letter from Delara Darabi's father
11 January 2007
"My daughter Delara is accused of a crime that she did not commit Three
years ago when she told me of the incident, I took her myself to the
authorities to be protected by law. A law and a judiciary system that I
have now realized, to depth of my bones, that have no sense of justice
whatsoever. "Today my childs life is not only being threatened because of
her pending death sentence but also her life is in danger because of how
she is being mistreated in the women prison ward number 3 of city of
Rasht, Iran.
"It is my child's human right not to be tortured. It is her right to have
basic living and meal standards. But there are no such standards here.
They do not properly feed her. We have no visitation rights. Today that I
am talking to you, I, her mother and sisters went to visit her but for
unknown reasons again they refused a visit
"Help me and help us until justice is properly served. There are no signs
of humanity and justice in here."57
In January 2007 Delara Darabi attempted to commit suicide, but was saved
when cellmates alerted prison officials. Prior to her suicide attempt, her
family and lawyer made repeated requests that she be moved to another
prison because of her deteriorating physical and mental state.
In March 2007 her lawyer, Abdolsamad Khoramshahi, told Etemad newspaper
that he had filed an appeal against her death sentence, which will be
heard by a different branch of the Supreme Court.55 On 5 April, it was
reported that the file had been transferred from the Head of the Judiciary
to the Supreme Court, but on 25 April it was reported that her death
sentence had been further confirmed by Branch 7 of the Supreme Court,
sitting as a sentencing discernment or review body, and that the verdict
had been sent back to the Head of the Judiciary for consideration.56
Shahram Pourmansouri
Shahram Pourmansouri, a 17-year-old Iranian Arab, was one of 11 members of
an extended family who attempted to commandeer a scheduled flight between
the southern Iranian cities of Ahvaz and Bandar Abbas, and force it to fly
to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates in January 2001. Security forces
already on board ended the hijack attempt on the runway at Ahvaz,
reportedly shooting and injuring Shahram Pourmansouri's brother-in-law,
Khaled Hardani, in the process. The family were reportedly trying to
escape the poverty they were experiencing as members of Irans Arab
minority.58
Shahram Pourmansouri was sentenced to death, along with his brother
Farhang and brother-in-law Khaled Hardani, on charges of "acts against
national security"59 and "enmity with God", rather than on charges
relating specifically to hijacking an aircraft. The sentence was upheld by
the Supreme Court. The Amnesty and Clemency Commission reportedly rejected
an application for a pardon lodged by the men's lawyer.
The executions were scheduled for 19 January 2005. The day before, on 18
January, the Head of the Judiciary reportedly ordered that all 3
executions be stayed because of the ages of Shahram and Farhang
Pourmansouri. In announcing the stays of execution, the spokesperson for
the Judiciary stated that people under the age of 18 were not executed in
Iran. The day scheduled for the execution was also the day on which the
Committee on the Rights of the Child was considering Iran's periodic
report.
The mens lawyer said that his clients were being kept in solitary
confinement in Reja'i Shahr prison in Karaj. He apparently wrote to the
Head of the Judiciary on 31 December 2004, stating that the 3 did not have
a fair trial as "the court did not follow the protocols of justice".60
In May 2006 Khaled Hardani told Amnesty International from Evin Prison in
Tehran that their cases had been referred to the Board of Monitoring and
Follow-up, which had failed to issue any decision. He said that they had
been left not knowing their fate: "It is possible that they could call me
in the next hour and say that your sentence has been confirmed and you
must be executed tomorrow morning."
Speaking about the impact of living under a death sentence, he said: "For
six years, the Islamic Republic has kept me, and my 2 brothers-in-law,
under the sentence of death Have you ever experienced receiving a death
sentence? Have your partner, parents, brother, sister and relatives been
told that tonight a close relative of yours is going to be executed? Can
you imagine the horror and shock of hearing such news? But me, two of my
close relatives, and our families have been going through this not for a
night or two or a few nights, but for a period of over 2000 nights."
It was reported in March 2007 that the three men had gone on hunger
strike, apparently because they had been transferred to Reja'i Shahr
prison from Evin Prison and believed that their death sentences were about
to be implemented.
Abbas Hosseini
Abbas Hosseini faces execution for a premeditated murder committed when he
was 17 years old. He has been under sentence of death for 2 years.
An Afghan refugee, he was born in Mashhad in 1986 after his family fled to
Iran from Afghanistan to escape the conflict there. In July 2003, he
stabbed a man to death who he accused of making sexual advances towards
him.
Abbas Hosseini was detained in a juvenile detention centre in Mashhad for
6 months, before being transferred to the central prison in Mashhad. He
confessed to the murder. A medical examination conducted some 10 months
after his arrest rejected the plea of insanity at the time of the crime.
Abbas Hosseini was sentenced to qesas on 3 June 2004 by a lower court in
Mashhad. The sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court in Mashhad on 30
September 2004. His family repeatedly pleaded with the family of the
victim to pardon Abbas Hosseini and accept diyeh, but without success.
On 10 April 2005, the order to implement the death sentence was issued and
execution was scheduled for dawn on 1 May 2005. However, on 30 April it
was announced that the Head of the Judiciary had ordered a 1-week stay of
execution, reportedly to give the victim's family another opportunity to
accept diyeh.
A week later, the day before the rescheduled execution was to take place,
the Head of the Judiciary ordered the Judiciary in Mashhad not to proceed
with the execution. The case was then reportedly sent to the Central
Judiciary in Tehran for review.
Amnesty International issued an Urgent Action on behalf of Abbas Hosseini
on 15 April 2005, with a further action on 3 May. On 8 May, Kayhan
newspaper published a statement by the Judiciary spokesperson, which
acknowledged appeals sent by the Urgent Action network and denied that
Abbas Hosseini would be executed. It stated: "Amnesty Internationals
sources of information are not reliable people under 18 are not executed."
Abbas Hosseini remains in Mashhad Prison under sentence of death.
According to his family and lawyer, he has displayed exemplary behaviour
in prison from where he completed his secondary education.
Reza Alinejad
Reza Alinejad is at risk of execution for a killing committed when he was
17 years old. The incident happened on 26 December 2002 in a street in
Fasa, a city near Shiraz in central Iran. Reza Alinejad says that 2 men
Esmail Daroudi and Mohammad Firouzi attacked him and his friend, Hadi
Abedini, with a martial arts weapon. He says he pulled out a pocket knife
during the struggle and accidentally stabbed and killed Esmail Daroudi.
Mohammad Firouzi reportedly admitted that he and Esmail Daroudi had
started the fight and that Reza Alinejad and his friend had been forced to
defend themselves because they could not escape. Reza Alinejad and Hadi
Abedini were reportedly injured in the attack and needed hospital
treatment. An eyewitness also said that Reza Alinejad had acted in
self-defence. Despite these testimonies, Reza Alinejad was sentenced to
qesas for murder by Section 6 of the Provincial Court in Fasa on 4 October
2003.
In December 2004 the Supreme Court rejected the death sentence, accepting
that Reza Alinejad had acted in self-defence. The judge acknowledged that
the instigators of the dispute were Esmail Daroudi and Mohammad Firouzi,
that they had attacked and injured Reza Alinejad and Hadi Abedini, and
that the stabbing by Reza Alinejad had not been intentional.
The Supreme Court sent the case back to another lower court for
investigation. The case was heard by Branch 101 of Fasa Provincial
Criminal Court, which on 15 June 2005 sentenced Reza Alinejad to death
again. It concluded that Reza Alinejad could have fled the scene and had
therefore acted unreasonably. On 9 May 2006, the Supreme Court upheld the
death sentence.
Reza Alinejad has been detained in Adelabad Prison in Shiraz since his
arrest in 2002.Ali AlijanAli Alijan, aged 19, was taken to be executed on
20 September 2006 for a crime committed when he was under the age of 18.
He was taken to the gallows and had the noose tied around his neck. At the
last minute, the family of his victim halted the execution.
Ali Alijan was sentenced to qesas for the murder of a young man called
Behrooz in March 2004. During his trial before Branch 71 of Tehran
Province Criminal Court, Ali Alijan said that Behrooz and three of his
friends had thrown fireworks at the family shop and that Behrooz had
slapped his elderly father on the face. A few days later, he stated that
he saw the group near the shop and clashed with them. "One of them had a
knife and stabbed me lightly a few times. I took the knife and stabbed
Behrooz once".61 Ali Alijan insisted that the killing was not premeditated
and that the knife belonged to one of Behrooz' friends.
After Ali Alijan was sentenced to qesas, his lawyer appealed, but the
verdict was upheld by the Supreme Court.
Ali Alijans family persistently pleaded with Behrooz family to forgo their
right to retribution and accept diyeh instead. On the day Ali Alijans
execution was scheduled, they again went to the family, who this time
agreed and asked the officials to halt the execution. Ali Alijan's family
were given two months to produce the diyeh.
Amnesty International does not know whether Ali Alijan's family could pay
the diyeh or any other developments in the case.
Hossein Gharabaghloo
Hossein Gharabaghloo was 16 when he reportedly stabbed his friend Mahmoud
to death during a fight on 1 December 2004 in Robat-e Karim, near Tehran.
He was arrested and taken to the Tehran Centre of Correction and
Rehabilitation. He escaped before his trial, which was due to begin on 19
April 2005. He was then recaptured, and on 1 November 2006 he was tried by
Branch 71 of Tehran General Court, which sentenced him to qesas. The death
sentence was confirmed by Branch 31 of the Supreme Court on 13 December
2006. It is understood that Hossein Gharabaghloo is in Rejai Shahr prison
awaiting execution.62
Naser Qasemi
Naser Qasemi, a resident of Siyah Kamar Sofla, near Mahidasht, Kermanshah,
was only 15 years old at the time of the killing for which he was
convicted. He has been in prison facing execution for more than 8 years,
during which he has been sentenced to death on no less than 3 occasions.
According to the verdict, issued on 20 August 1999, Naser Qasemi went with
his uncle to a farm to steal maize. The owners noticed them and tried to
stop them. In the fight, the uncle's gun allegedly fell to the ground and
Naser Qasemi fired it. One person died. The uncle escaped but Naser Qasemi
was arrested.
Naser Qasemi was tried in October or November 1999 and sentenced to
payment of diyeh. Branch 37 of the Supreme Court ruled that this verdict
contravened Islamic law, and subsequently Branch 29 of Kermanshah General
Court sentenced Naser Qasemi to qesas. The Supreme Court then found the
verdict deficient because of the lack of a confession. Branch 33 of
Kermanshah General Court sentenced him to qesas again, and Branch 37 of
the Supreme Court confirmed the sentence.
At the stage of seeking permission for execution, the Assistant Public
Prosecutor of the Supreme Court ruled that the investigation should have
been conducted by the childrens court and sent it there for investigation.
Subsequently, Branch 106 of Kermanshah Criminal Court (Children) again
sentenced Naser Qasemi to qesas.
The relatives of the victim want 70 million rials (approximately US$7,500)
as diyeh which Naser Qasemis family cannot raise.
"The only face I see in front of me every day is a wall. For three years,
I have been defending myself with colours, forms and words. These
paintings are an oath to a crime I did not commit. Unless the colours
bring me back to life, I greet you who have come to view my paintings from
behind that wall." Delara Darabi www.stopchildexecutions.com
5. Campaigning wins reprieves
Campaigning against the death penalty both inside and outside Iran has
made and can make a difference. In a few cases, convictions leading to
death sentences have been overturned and the person has been released. In
many more, stays of execution have been won. Campaigns have also prompted
the Iranian authorities to publicly comment on cases, initiate reviews of
cases, order retrials and grant pardons or amnesties.
The 2 cases below illustrate the importance and potential impact of
campaigning against the death penalty.
"I appreciate all of you, all known and unknown activists, who have tried
to save her from the death penalty Despite all her hard experiences, she
is so glad for being among us I hope we always remember the many women
like Leyla who live in a critical situation in Iran."
Shadi Sadr, Leyla Mafis lawyer
Leyla Mafi
Leyla Mafi was arrested during a raid on a brothel when she was 17. During
interrogation she reportedly confessed to having worked as a prostitute
since she was a child. In around May 2004, she was sentenced to death by a
court in Arak for "acts contrary to chastity" for running a brothel,
prostitution, incest and giving birth to an illegitimate child. She had a
court-appointed lawyer. She was also sentenced to flogging before
execution.
An Etemad journalist who interviewed Leyla Mafi in prison uncovered a tale
of a childhood of forced prostitution, rape and abuse, interspersed with
arrests and sentences of flogging.
Leyla Mafi was forced into prostitution by her mother when she was 8 and
gave birth when she was nine. At around that time, she was sentenced to
100 lashes for prostitution. When she was 12, her family sold her to an
Afghan man to become his "temporary wife". Her mother-in-law forced her
into prostitution and when she was 14 she was prosecuted and again
sentenced to flogging 100 lashes. She later gave birth to twins. Her
family then sold her to a married 55-year-old man with 2 children, who
also forced Leyla Mafi into prostitution in his home.
According to the Etemad report, social workers tested Leyla Mafis mental
capacities on several occasions and each time found her to have the mental
age of an 8-year-old. She had never been examined by a court-appointed
doctor and was sentenced to death on the basis of her confessions, without
consideration of her background or mental health.
Lawyer Shadi Sadr took up her case and an Urgent Action appeal by Amnesty
International attracted widespread international media publicity.
Activists inside and outside Iran campaigned against the death sentence.
In response, the Iranian authorities took the exceptional step of publicly
commenting on the case, contesting Amnesty Internationals information
about Leyla Mafi's age and mental capacity. They stated that she was
mentally and physically normal, and that she had only been working as a
prostitute as an adult. Nevertheless, on 26 December 2004, a Foreign
Ministry spokesperson announced that Leyla Mafi's case would be reviewed.
On 27 March 2005, the Supreme Court rejected the death sentence and
five-year prison sentence, but upheld the sentence of flogging. The case
was sent back to a lower court in Arak for retrial. Branch 103 of the
General Court in Arak subsequently acquitted Leyla Mafi of incest (which
carries the death penalty), and of controlling a brothel. However, she was
convicted of "an unchaste act with a next of kin (other than fornication)"
and was sentenced to 99 lashes. She was also sentenced to 3 1/2 years in
prison for "providing the facilities for corruption and prostitution by
being available for sexual acts". The judge ordered that following the
completion of her prison sentence, she should live in a women's
rehabilitation centre for 8 months.
The 99 lashes were carried out in February 2006 at the headquarters of the
Justice Department in Arak. Leyla Mafi was then taken to a womens
rehabilitation centre in Tehran.
Nazanin Mahabad Fatehi
In March 2005, Nazanin Fatehi, aged 17, and her niece Somayeh, then aged
14 or 15, both from an economically deprived Kurdish family, were attacked
in a secluded area near their home in Karaj, near Tehran. A group of
youths surrounded the girls and tried to rape them. Nazanin Fatehi, who
carried a knife for self-defence, stabbed one of them in the chest,
killing him. The girls fled the scene and reported the incident to the
police
. In January 2006, Nazanin Fatehi was sentenced to qesas; the mother of
the deceased had demanded retaliation.
Speaking in tears at the trial, at which she was defended by a
court-appointed lawyer, Nazanin Fatehi said: "I wanted to defend myself
and my niece However, I did not want to kill that boy. At the heat of the
moment I did not know what to do because no one came to our help".
Following domestic and international pressure, including a high-profile
campaign by Canadian/Iranian beauty queen Nazanin Afshin-Jam, the death
sentence was overturned by the Supreme Court in May 2006, reportedly on
the instruction of the Head of the Judiciary. The case was sent for
retrial.
Lawyer Shadi Sadr took on the case and on 14 January 2007 the judges
cleared Nazanin Fatehi of intentional murder, finding that she had acted
in self-defence. However, they ruled that she had used disproportionate
force when acting in self-defence, and ordered her to pay diyeh to the
family of the youth she killed. Her lawyers are challenging that ruling.
Following payment of 400 million rials (approximately US$43,000) in bail,
mostly raised by online donations to the www.helpnazanin.com website, as
well as donations from inside Iran and a large donation from a Canadian
member of parliament, Nazanin Fatehi was released on 31 January 2007 and
had an emotional reunion with her family.
"I know how hard each of you have worked to bring Nazanin home and I am
grateful to all of you. Nazanins father and siblings are very happy too.
You brought us the only one wish that we had: freedom of our daughter. May
Allah give all of you, our brothers and sisters, health and happiness for
all that you have done."63
Maryam Fatehi, Nazanin Fatehi's mother
6. Recommendations
Human rights defenders in Iran stress that international publicity and
pressure, in support of local efforts, can help bring about change in the
country. Amnesty International believes that campaigning can save lives
and will eventually persuade the Iranian authorities to end the illegal
execution of child offenders and bring their legal practices into line
with their obligations under international law.
Towards that end, Amnesty International makes the following
recommendations: To the Majles
Urgently revise the draft Juvenile Crimes Investigation Act to ensure that
it explicitly prohibits the execution of those convicted of crimes
committed before they reached the age of 18, including those sentenced to
qesas for murder or to death for hodoud crimes that carry the death
penalty. This would bring the law into line with Irans obligations under
the ICCPR and the CRC not to execute children and child offenders.
Review all legislation in Iran under which a convicted person may be
killed by the state, with the immediate aim of progressively restricting
the scope of the death penalty, and with a view to the eventual abolition
of the death penalty.
Revise Iranian legislation to ensure that anyone facing judicial execution
by the state can seek pardon or commutation of their sentence, in line
with Irans obligations under Article 6(4) of the ICCPR.
To the Head of the Judiciary
Immediately implement a moratorium on all executions of those convicted of
crimes committed before they were 18 until legislation is passed that bans
such executions.
Instruct all judges responsible for the implementation of sentences to
ensure that no child offender facing a final death sentence already signed
by the Head of the Judiciary is executed.
To the Supreme Leader
Commute all death sentences where pardon or commutation may be sought.
To the Minister of Foreign Affairs
Facilitate as a matter of priority the outstanding request from the UN
Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions to
visit Iran.
To the international community
Press the Iranian authorities to announce an immediate moratorium on all
executions of those aged under 18 at the time of the crime, including
those sentenced to qesas for murder, with a view to abolition.
APPENDIX I: List of child offenders executed
The following list summarizes the information on executions of child
offenders recorded by Amnesty International since 1990.
19901) Kazem Shirafkan was 17 when executed.19922-4) Three boys one aged
16, two aged 17 were executed on 29 September. 19995) Ebrahim Qorbanzadeh
was convicted of murder and executed on 24 October in Rasht when he was
17.20006) Jasem Ebrahimi was publicly hanged on 14 January in Gonaveh for
kidnap, rape and murder. He was 17 when executed. 20017) Mehrdad Yousefi,
aged 18, was executed on 29 May in western Iran. He was convicted of a
murder committed when he was 16 years old. 20048) Mohammad Mohammadzadeh
was hanged on 25 January in the western province of Ilam. He had been
convicted of the murder of Mousa Azadi five years previously, when he was
17 years old. 9) Salman, surname unknown, was executed for murder in
Mashhad on 12 May. He had been convicted of the murder in 2000, when he
was 17 years old. According to press reports, the courts waited until he
was over 18 before carrying out the execution. 10) Atefeh Rajabi Sahaaleh
(see Chapter 3). 200511) Iman Farrokhi (see Chapter 3). 12) Ali Safarpour
Rajabi, aged 20, was hanged on 13 July for killing Hamid Enshadi, a police
officer, in Poldokhtar. His death sentence was reportedly passed in
February 2002 when he was 17 years old. He may have been only 16 years old
at the time of the crime for which he was executed.
13-14) Ayaz Marhoni and Mahmoud Asgari (see Chapter 3).15) Farshid
Farighi, aged 21, was hanged in Bandar Abbas on 1 August. He was convicted
of stabbing to death five men, reported to be taxi drivers, in separate
incidents. The first of the killings was in 1998 when Farshid Farighi was
14 years old. He was reportedly arrested in 2000 when he was 16. He was
flogged before he was executed.16) At least one 17-year-old youth (name
unknown) was among 4 men under the age of 23, named only as AP, BK, HK and
HJ, who were executed in public on 23 August in Bandar Abbas, according to
Kayhan newspaper.64 Kayhan reported that HK and HJ had been convicted of
kidnapping and rape, and that AP and BK had been convicted of rape and
theft, and were flogged before they were executed. 17) A 22-year-old man
(name unknown) from a village named as Doust Iran Nodan was reported to
have been hanged at dawn in public in Fars province on 12 September. He
had reportedly been sentenced to death for rape in 2000, when he was
17.6518) Rostam Tajik (see Chapter 3). 200619) Majid Segound (or Sagvand
see Chapter 3). 20) A man named as Sattar was executed in September. He
had reportedly been sentenced to qesas by a court in Tehran on 26 January
2005, when he was 17, for the murder of a man named Mahmoud in Islamshahr,
southern Tehran. The killing allegedly took place during a fight several
months earlier. 21) Morteza M was reported to have been publicly hanged in
Yazd on 7 November. According to reports, he was 18 at the time of
execution and had been sentenced to death for the murder of his friend two
years earlier.6622) Naser Batmani, aged 22, was hanged in Sanandaj Prison
in late December 2006 for a murder committed when he was under 18,
according to the Kurdistan Human Rights Organization. He was executed
after serving a 5-year prison sentence.200723) Mohammad Mousavi (see
Chapter 3).24) Said Qanbar Zahi (see Chapter 3).
APPENDIX II: List of child offenders on death row
The following list summarizes the information on child offenders facing
executions known to Amnesty International, as of May 2007.
1 Sina Paymard (see Chapter 4)
2 Delara Darabi (see Chapter 4)
3 Shahram Pourmansouri (see Chapter 4)
4 Abbas Hosseini (see Chapter 4)
5 Reza Alinejad (see Chapter 4)
6 Hamid
Hamid (surname unknown) was sentenced to qesas for murder by Branch 21 of
Tehran Province General Court in October 2005. The crime was committed on
27 July 2004, when Hamid was 17 years old.
According to reports, Hamid stabbed a man, Davood Karimi, during a scuffle
with several men over an incident that had taken place earlier that day.67
He confessed to police, stating that he had stabbed Davood Karimi because
he was surrounded by several men who were attacking him, but that he had
not intended to kill him.
The family of the victim asked to exercise their right to retribution and
called for the execution to be carried out. No further details about the
case are known.
7 Rasoul Mohammadi
Rasoul Mohammadi was 17 when he was scheduled to be executed at the same
time as his father, Mousa Ali Mohammadi. Both were to be flogged 74 times
before their execution.
Rasoul Mohammadi and his father had been found guilty by a court in
Esfahan of abducting 40 young girls, stealing their jewellery and raping
at least 4 of them. They apparently confessed to the charges during
interrogation. They were sentenced to 25 years' imprisonment, flogging and
execution.68
Their sentences were upheld by the Supreme Court. On 11 April 2005, the
Assistant Public Prosecutor for the Office of Sentence Implementation
announced that Mousa Ali Mohammadi would be publicly hanged on 16 April in
Esfahan at 6.30am, and that his 17-year-old son would be hanged at the
same time inside Esfahan Central Prison. However, prior to the execution,
the case was referred back to the Supreme Court, apparently because of
Rasoul Mohammadi's age.
Mousa Ali Mohammadi was publicly executed in Esfahan as scheduled, but
Rasoul Mohammadi received a stay of execution, reportedly because of
ambiguities about his age.
Amnesty International has no further information about Rasoul Mohammadis
current status.
8 Mehdi
A criminal court in Robat-e Karim sentenced Mehdi (surname unknown) to
qesas in March 2006 for killing a boy, Hamid, according to Hamshahri
newspaper.69 His brother Morteza was sentenced to a term of imprisonment
for complicity in murder. According to the report, Mehdi stabbed Hamid
with a knife during a fight in a park in Robat-e Karim, killing him. At
the time of the trial, Mehdi was 18 and Morteza was 21. The incident had
happened 2 years earlier, when Mehdi would have been 16. Hamshahri
reported that Mehdi accepted the charge of intentional murder and that the
mother of the victim had asked the court for a qesas sentence.
9 Hossein
Hossein (surname unknown) faces execution for a crime committed when he
was 16 years old.According to Etemad-e Melli newspaper, Hossein was
sentenced to qesas for the murder of a boy, Mahmoud, in Fadak park,
Mussa-Abad, on 2 December 2004. During his trial before Branch 71 of
Tehran Criminal Court, Hossein stated that he was acting in self-defence
after Mahmoud attacked him, having already attempted to rape him.70
However, a friend of the murdered boy stated that Hossein and his
step-brother Behrooz arrived at the park carrying chains, and confronted
Mahmoud.
After Hossein was sentenced to death, his lawyer appealed against the
sentence on the basis that Hossein was only 16 at the time of the murder
and referring to the earlier attempted rape. Nevertheless, on 1 March 2007
Branch 21 of the Supreme Court upheld the sentence.
10 Feyz Mohammad
Feyz Mohammad, an Afghan national, was sentenced to death by a juvenile
court in Karaj in 2004. Aged 16 at the time, he was convicted of
drug-trafficking, distributing approximately 7 kilograms of morphine, and
being a member of a drug-trafficking gang.
Feyz Mohammad reportedly confessed to transporting drugs for his boss, who
was a drugs smuggler.71 It is not known whether he had access to a lawyer
after his arrest, or in what circumstances he made this confession.
In September 2004, Amnesty International issued an Urgent Action on his
behalf. No further information about the case is known.
11 Ali Alijan (see Chapter 4)
12 Hossein Gharabaghloo (see Chapter 4)
13 Ali Mahin Torabi
Ali Mahin Torabi, from Karaj, faces execution for the killing of a
schoolmate named Mazdak during a play-ground fight in Bani Hashemi High
School in February 2003. Ali Mahin Torabi was 16 years old at the time.
A Juvenile Court in Karaj sentenced Ali Mohin Torabi to qesas on 30
October 2003 and on 8 June 2004, Branch 27 of the Supreme Court upheld the
sentence. Ali Mahin Torabi is in Rejai Shahr prison in Karaj awaiting
execution.72
14 Mostafa
Mostafa (surname unknown) was convicted in around August 2005 of killing
an intoxicated man in the Pars district of Tehran.73 According to the
report, Mostafa was 16 years old at the time and had been trying to stop
the man from harassing a girl. The man reportedly started hitting Mostafa,
who eventually killed him in the ensuing scuffle.
15 Mehyar
17-year-old Mehyar (surname unknown) was arrested in December 1999 for the
murder of a 58-year-old woman in her home during a burglary. He was
sentenced to qesas by Branch 2106 of Tehran General Court. He also
received a sentence of flogging for possession of alcoholic drinks, and
three years' imprisonment for theft. It is common in Iran that people
sentenced to prison terms in addition to the death penalty serve some or
all of their prison sentence before execution.
16 Ne'mat
Ne'mat (surname unknown) was 17 when the Supreme Court upheld his death
sentence in around May 2006, placing him at imminent risk of execution.
Nemat was reportedly arrested for the January 2003 murder of his sister
Zohras husband, Haydar Ali.74 According to childrens rights activist and
lawyer Nasrin Sotudeh, he was 15 years old at the time.
After his arrest, Nemat reportedly denied involvement in the killing.
However, following interrogation, he confessed. He was tried before Branch
106 of the General Court in Esfahan and sentenced to qesas.
17 Vahid
16-year-old Vahid was reportedly sentenced to death for the murder of his
friend Mehdi. He claims that he killed him in self-defence after he tried
to sexually assault him.75 No further details are known. A youth named
Vahid was executed in Evin Prison in September 2006, but it is not clear
if this was the same person or not.
18 Hedayat Niroumand
15-year-old Hedayat Niroumand from Qarni village was reported to have been
sentenced to qesas in December 2006 for killing his father.76 Hedayat
Niroumand had reportedly been arrested six months earlier in around June
2006. It was reported that Hedayat Niroumand would not be executed until
he reaches the age of 18
19 Mohammad Jamali Paghale
Mohammad Jamali Paghale was 15 when he allegedly killed his friend. He was
initially sentenced to 5 years imprisonment by a childrens court. However,
the Supreme Court overturned this and issued a death sentence.
20 Hamid Reza
Hamid Reza, from Gorgan, was sentenced to qesas for a murder allegedly
committed when he was 14 years old.
21 Ali Nourmohammadi
Ali Nourmohammadi was 16 when he killed one of his cousins in a fight. He
was sentenced to qesas by Branch 24 of the General Court of Kermanshah,
which has no jurisdiction over juvenile cases. All the other defendants in
the case were over 18. Two others involved in the fight, Ali
Nourmohammadis uncle and another cousin, were sentenced to diyeh for
injuring Ali Nourmohammadi. The sentences were confirmed by Branch 6 of
Kermanshah Appeal Court. Ali Nourmohammadi has been in prison for nine
years hoping that the issue can be resolved within the family.
22 Rasoul Safari
Rasoul Safari was sentenced to qesas by Branch 1 of the General Court of
Gilangharb on 7 September 2005 for a killing committed when he was 17. On
19 March 2006 Branch 33 of the Supreme Court found the verdict deficient.
According to reports, on 5 November 2004 Rasoul Safari had gone to the
mountains with two friends. That evening, the man who was subsequently
killed went to the mountains with a friend intending to frighten Rasoul
Safari and his friends as a joke. They scared the three friends by
throwing stones and howling like a wild animal. The 3 hurried from the
mountains, but the man followed them and, with his head and face hidden,
attacked them with a club (gorz). This led to a fight between the man and
the 3 friends, during which Rasoul Safari allegedly killed the man with a
stab to the stomach.
During the trial, Rasoul Safari denied the charge and said: "I did not
carry out a killing. The confessions I made were [made] under torture."
23 Behador Khaleqi
Behador Khaleqi was sentenced to qesas on 31 June 2005 by Branch 1 of
Saqqez General Court for a killing committed when he was 16. The sentence
was confirmed on 13 March 2006 by Branch 27 of the Supreme Court.
According to details given in the verdict, on 7 May 2005 Behador Khaleqi
and some friends were involved in a drunken fight with another group
during which someone was killed.
24 Naser Qasemi (see Chapter 4)
25 Amir Chalehchaleh
At the age of 17, Amir Chalehchaleh and two of his brothers became
involved in a fight with another group during which a young person was
killed. Amir Chalehchaleh was arrested and initially confessed but later
denied that he had been the killer. He was sentenced to qesas.
In his appeal, Amir Chalehchaleh refuted his confession and identified one
of his brothers as the killer. The brother had been released on bail and
subsquently disappeared. The court rejected Amir Chalehchalehs appeal and
sentenced him to qesas.
The Supreme Court initially rejected the verdict on account of
deficiencies in the investigation and the prosecution case, but
subsequently confirmed it. However, the Head of the Judiciary has sent the
case twice to the Discernment Branch of the Supreme Court, whose decision
is awaited.
26 Rasoul Eyvatvandi (or Ayoutvandi)
Rasoul Eyvatvandi was 17 when he shot dead one of his friends in an act of
revenge. He was sentenced to qesas, which was confirmed by the Supreme
Court.
27 Nabovat Baba'i
In 2002 or 2003, a game between 17-year-old Nabovat Babai and another
youth, Zabihollah Qasemian, turned serious after Zabihollah allegedly
broke a light on Nabovat Baba'i's motorbike and fled into a nearby shop.
Nabovat Babai followed him in and allegedly threw a metal rod at his head,
injuring him. Delays in getting Zabihollah Qasemian to hospital
contributed to his death.
The court sentenced Nabovat Babai to qesas, which was confirmed by the
Supreme Court in 2006. The victims father does not want retribution, but
the victims mother does.
28 Soghra Najafpour, resident of Gilan, sentenced to qesas for murder
committed when she may have been only 13.
29 Mohammad Reza Turk from Hamedan, sentenced to qesas for murder.
30 Rasoul Nouriyani from Hamedan, who was sentenced to death for rape by
Hamedan General Court.
31 Nazbibi Ateshbejan from Semnan, who was sentenced to death for
supplying drugs when she was 16 years old by Branch 107 of Khorramabad
General Court on 1 May 2006. The sentence was confirmed by the Supreme
Court on 12 February 2006.
32 Siyavash Shirnejad from Nosratan, who was sentenced to qesas for murder
by Branch 107 of Khorramabad General Court on 9 May 2006.
33 Mehyar Anvari from Golestan, who was sentenced to qesas for a murder
committed when he was 17, by Branch 3 of Khorramabad General Court. The
sentence was confirmed by Branch 27 of the Supreme Court.
34 Mohammad Mavari from Golestan was sentenced to qesas for a murder
committed when he was 16, by Branch 2 of Kordkouy General Court. The
sentence was confirmed by Branch 40 of the Supreme Court.
35 Abdolkhaleq Rakhshani from Golestan; his sentence to qesas was upheld
by Branch 2 of the Golestan Appeal Court on 16 March 2006.
36 Said Arab from Golestan, who was sentenced to qesas for murder.
37 Hani Momeni Yasaqi from Golestan, who was sentenced to qesas by Gorgan
General Court on 20 November 2004. Branch 26 of the Supreme Court upheld
the sentence on 9 March 2005.
38 Sadegh Ahmadpour, who was sentenced to qesas for a killing committed
when he was 17 by Branch 104 of Shahikord General Court. The sentence was
upheld by Branch 27 of the Supreme Court on 22 July 2004.
39 Ahmad Jabari from Khuzestan, who was sentenced to qesas for a killing
committed when he was 15. The sentence was upheld by Branch 29 of the
Supreme Court.
40 Akoo Hosseini from Kordestan, who was sentenced to qesas for murder.
The sentence was upheld by Branch 27 of the Supreme Court.
41 Gholam Nabi Barahouti from Yazd, who was sentenced to qesas for murder
and theft, committed when he was 16, by Branch 10 of Yazd General Court on
6 February 2003. The sentence was upheld by Branch 27 of the Supreme
Court.
42 Omaraddin Alkuzehi from Yazd, who was sentenced to qesas for murder
committed when he was 17 by Branch 101 of Taft General Court on 31
December 2003. The sentence was upheld by Branch 26 of the Supreme Court.
43 Mostafa Saidi from Central Province, who was sentenced to qesas for
murder in Saveh. The sentence was upheld by Branch 42 of the Supreme
Court.
44 Zolfali Hamzeh from Central Province, who was sentenced to qesas for
rape and murder by Branch 2 of Saveh General Court.
45 Omid Sarani from Sistan-Baluchistan, who was sentenced to qesas for a
murder committed when he was 17, by Branch 102 of Zahedan General Court.
46 Ahmad Nourzahi from Sistan-Baluchistan, who was sentenced to death for
carrying and supplying heroin, apparently when he was 12.
47 Na'im Kolb'ali from Sistan-Baluchistan, who was sentenced to qesas for
drug addiction when he was 15, by Branch 102 of Zahedan General Court.
48 Habib Afsar from Qom, who was sentenced to qesas for a murder committed
when he was 15.
49 Alireza Movassili Roudi from Qom, who was sentenced to death for a
murder committed when he was 16.
50 Salman Akbari from Ardabil, who was sentenced to death by Bakhsh Arshaq
General Court on 13 July 2003 for a killing committed when he was 17.
51-53 Mohammad Pezhman, Rahman Shahidi and Hasan Mozaffari from Bushehr,
who were sentenced to death for rape.
54 Feyzollah Soltani, who was sentenced to death by a Revolutionary Court
in Yazd for carrying and supplying drugs, and drug addiction.
55 Khodamorad Shahemzadeh, who was sentenced to death in Zahedan for
carrying and supplying narcotics following his arrest in July 2005 when he
was 17.
56 Hamzeh Setani was sentenced to qesas for murder when he was only 17.
57 Beniamin Rasouli, aged 17
58 Hossein Toranj, aged 17
59 Hossein Haghi, aged 17
60 Morteza Feizi, aged 16
61 Sa'eed Jazee, aged 17
62 Milad Bakhtiari, aged 16
63 Farshad Sa'eedi, aged 17
64 Mahmoud, aged 17
65 Saber77
66 Sajjad, aged 17
67 Farzad, aged 15
68 Asghar, aged 16
69 Iman, aged 17, Golpaigan city
70 Mohammad Jahedi78
71 Masoud, aged 17
Endnotes
1 In the Iranian legal system, there is a distinction between cases where
the penalty is "execution" (hokm-e edam) and qesas, retribution in kind,
which is the penalty for murder. Iranian officials exclude qesas cases
from the category of "execution", but international law does not make this
distinction because in both cases convicts are put to death by the state.
In this report, "execution" is used to refer to all death sentences
imposed in Iran, whether for murder or other types of crime.
2 After Iran, the USA has been responsible for the next highest number of
executions of child offenders; US authorities executed 19 juveniles
between 1990 and March 2005, when such executions were declared
unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court.
3 The Juvenile Justice System Ordinance has not been fully implemented in
all parts of Pakistan although it has now been extended to the tribal
areas, its procedural rules have not been passed so it remains
inapplicable.
4 Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child:
Iran (Islamic Republic of), UN Doc. CRC/C/15/Add.123, 28 June 2000, para
7.
5 UN Doc. CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.6, 1994, para 8.
6 The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties defines a peremptory norm
as "a norm accepted and recognized by the international community of
States as a whole as a norm from which no derogation is permitted and
which can be modified only by a subsequent norm of international law
having the same character".
7 Committee on the Rights of the Child, 38th session. Concluding
Observations: The Islamic Republic of Iran. Recommendation 30. UN Doc.
CRC/C/15/Add.254, 31 March 2005.
8 Committee on the Rights of the Child, op cit, para 29.
9 Human Rights Council, fifth session, Agenda item 2. UN Doc. A/HRC/4/20,
29 January 2007.
10 The draft law can be viewed in Farsi at:
http://www.spk-gov.ir/News.asp?ItemID=5928.
11 Although overall figures are not available, statements by officials
occasionally refer to people under sentence of death. For example, in an
interview with the Iranian newspaper 'Ayyaran on 17 March 2007, Hossein
Ali Shahryari, a parliamentarian representing the city of Zahedan, stated
that prisons in Sistan-Baluchistan province were holding more than 700
people under sentence of death. Emadeddin Baghi, a journalist and human
rights defender who has researched the use of the death penalty in Iran,
estimates that there may be as many as 1,400 people on death row in Iran
whose sentences have been approved by the Supreme Court.
12 The Chinese authorities insisted that the person executed was a male
over the age of 18 at the time of the crime.
13 The Pakistani authorities said the person executed was 18 at the time
of the crime.
14 According to Emadeddin Baghi, there are 85 articles in Iranian law that
carry the death penalty: 20 in the Penal Code, 11 in the Anti-Narcotics
Law, 42 in the Military Penal Code and 12 in other laws.
15 See Articles 12-20 of the Islamic Penal Code.
16 Amnesty International considers the use of "sodomy" laws to imprison
individuals for same-sex relations in private to be a grave violation of
human rights, including the rights to privacy, to freedom from
discrimination, and to freedom of expression and association, which are
protected in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
17 Article 183 of the Islamic Penal Code.
18 Articles 81, 126 and 133 of the Islamic Penal Code.
19 The law (in English translation) may be viewed at
http://www.unodc.org/enl/showDocument.do?documentUid=2511&node=docs&cmd=add&country=IRA.
20 These are sentences of execution, hodoud punishments, sentences of
qesas and sentences where the penalty is more than six months imprisonment
or a fine of more than 1 million rials.
21 The functions of the Revolutionary Courts are described by the
Judiciary at:
http://www.iranjudiciary.org/courts-revolutionarycourts-fa.html.
22 The Special Court for the Clergy, established by a decree of Ayatollah
Khomeini in 1987 to try Shia clerics or lay people whose cases are
connected to the clergy, and which operates outside the framework of the
judiciary, can also sentence people to death. However, Amnesty
International is not aware of any cases of child offenders who have been
sentenced to death by this court.
23 Article 19 of the Law on Appeals, 1993.
24 Article 232 of the Code of Criminal Procedures, 1999.
25 See, for example, the comment by Nasser Saraj in May 2007 in Chapter 3.
26 Except where specified under the Penal Code, where certain kinds of
offenders who have confessed and repented may be pardoned by the Supreme
Leader on the recommendation of the judge in the case.
27 This refers to the right to seek pardon from the state. The state has
the duty to guarantee the right to seek pardon, although it can take into
account the wishes of the family.
28 Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 6 on the right to life,
para 7.
29 Report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, 27 June 2003,
E/CN.4/2004/3/Add.2.
30 For example, Article 14 of the ICCPR.
31 Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 10: Childrens
rights in Juvenile Justice, CRC/C/GC/10, 9 February 2007, para 23(g).
32 Other means of proving such crimes include testimony of witnesses or
the knowledge of the judge "obtained through conventional methods".
33 Article 15 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
34 Report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, 27 June 2003,
E/CN.4/2004/3/Add.2, p15.
35 Article 165 of the Constitution.
36 Article 128 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
37 Report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, 27 June 2003,
E/CN.4/2004/3/Add.2.
38 Report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, 27 June 2003,
E/CN.4/2004/3/Add.2.
39 For a discussion on the lack of independence of the judiciary and the
role of judges, see Amnesty Internationals report, Iran: A legal system
that fails to protect freedom of expression and association, AI Index:
MDE: 13/045/2001.
40 Kayhan newspaper, 8 May 2005.
41 See Iranian Bar Association website visited on 9 May 2007 at
http://www.iranbar.org/far01p39.php#582.
42 "Execution of a teenage girl", BBC documentary aired on the UKs BBC 2
channel, 27 July 2006.
43 "Execution of a teenage girl", op cit.
44 "Execution of a teenage girl", op cit.
45 "Execution of a teenage girl", op cit.
46 "Execution of a teenage girl", op cit.
47 Iran newspaper, 26 December 2004.
48 Iran, 26 December 2004.
49 "Lavat beh Onf".
50 Quds newspaper, 19 July 2005.
51 Hamshahri newspaper, 11 December 2005.
52 Jondallah, which has carried out a number of armed attacks on Iranian
officials and has on occasion killed hostages, reportedly seeks to defend
the rights of the Baluchi people. Government officials have claimed that
it is involved in drug smuggling and has ties to terrorist groups and
foreign governments. In March 2006, Jondallah killed 22 Iranian officials
and took at least 7 people hostage in Sistan-Baluchistan province.
Following the incident, scores, possibly hundreds, of people were
arrested; many were reportedly taken to unknown locations. In the months
following the attacks, the number of executions announced in Baluchi areas
increased dramatically. Dozens of people were reported to have been
executed by the end of the year.
53 E'temad-e Melli newspaper, 21 September 2006.
54 E'temad newspaper, 31 January 2007,
http://www.etemaad.com/Released/85-11-11/97.htm.
55 Etemad, 2 March 2007.
56 E'temad, 25 April 2007.
57 11 January 2007, translated by David Etebari,
www.stopchildexecutions.com.
58 IranMania.com, 3 January 2005.
59 Eqdam 'aleyhe amniyat.
60 Iranian Students News Agency, 18 January 2005,
http://www.isna.ir/news.Main.asp
61 E'temad, 21 September 2006.
62 E'temad, 14 December 2006; Iran Student Correspondents Association, 13
December 2006.
63 Translated by David Etebari on www.helpnazanin.com.
64 Kayhan, 24 August 2005.
65 Etemad, 13 September 2005.
66 Iran Student Correspondents Association
http://www.iscanews.ir/fa/ShowNewsItem.aspx?NewsItemID=69148.
67 Iran, 9 October 2005.
68 Iran, 11 April 2005,
http://www.iran-newspaper.com/1384/840124/html/casual.htm; AFP, 16 April
2006.
69 Hamshahri, 6 March 2006.
70 E'temad-e Melli, 1 March 2007.
71 Payk-e Iran, 31 August 2004.
72 E'temad, 1 July 2004.
73 E'temad, 24 August 2006.
74 E'temad, 2 May 2006.
75 AFP, 16 November 2004, quoting Shargh newspaper.
76 Kurdish Human Rights Organization, 19 December 2006.
77 The lawyer in the case was sure that he was a child, but did not know
the age.
78 The lawyer in the case was sure that he was a child, but did not know
the age.
(source for all: Amnesty International)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----worldwide
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