17 January 2017
Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights: Rupert Colville
Location:
Geneva
Subject: (1)
Iran
(2)
Bahrain
(1) Iran
We call on the Iranian authorities not to carry out the
apparently imminent execution of Sajad Sanjari, who was a juvenile when he was
sentenced to death for fatally stabbing a man in 2012.
Sanjari was granted a retrial in 2014 under the
provisions of the 2013 Islamic Penal Code. However, in 2015 the provincial
criminal court of Kermanshah rejected his argument that he had acted in
self-defence following a rape attempt on him and confirmed his death sentence,
finding that he had sufficient “mental maturity” to understand his crime.
Iran’s Supreme Court upheld the death sentence in August 2016.
Iran remains one of the few countries that execute
juvenile offenders despite its obligations under international human rights law
which prohibits the use of the death penalty against anyone under 18 years of
age, no matter the circumstances or the crime.
At least five juveniles were reportedly executed in Iran
last year and at least 78 people reportedly remain on death row for crimes they
committed when they were under 18, although the actual figure may be much
higher. The execution of juvenile offenders is abhorrent and we urge Iran to
end this practice once and for all.
We also reiterate our call to Iran to immediately
institute a moratorium on the death penalty, amid serious concerns about the
continuing high number of executions and the lack of fair trial and due process
guarantees in accordance with international human rights law. The imposition of
the death penalty when fair trial guarantees are not respected may constitute a
violation of the right to life.
Reports in recent days suggest that a number of people
have been executed for drug-related offences. These include 14 people reported
to have been hanged at the Central Prison in the city of Karaj and two executed
at Rasht central prison on 14 January.
Drug offences clearly do not meet the threshold of most
serious crimes under international human rights law for the application of the
death penalty, as detailed by the UN Human Rights Committee*, and it is
therefore deplorable that executions for drug crimes continue to be carried out
in Iran.
(2) Bahrain
We are appalled at the execution by firing squad of three
men in Bahrain on Sunday. The men had
been convicted of a bombing in Manama in 2014 that killed three police
officers. They were found guilty after being allegedly tortured into making
false confessions and their lawyers were not given access to all the evidence
against them nor allowed to cross-examine prosecution witnesses during court
hearings.
The way the trials were conducted raises serious doubts
whether the accused were provided with the right to fair trial, guaranteed by
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – the ICCPR - in
particular by Articles 9 and 14.
The executions of Abbas Al-Samea, Ali Al-Singace and Sami
Mushaima are the first in Bahrain since 2010. We understand that on 14 January
the men’s families were asked to go immediately to the prison but despite
making repeated requests for information, they were not told their sons were
due to be executed the following day.
We again urge Bahrain to impose a moratorium on the use
of the death penalty and to ratify the second optional protocol of the ICCPR
that aims to abolish the death penalty definitively.
ENDS
*In its General Comment No 6: Article 6 Right to life,
the UN Human Rights Committee says in paragraph 6: “While …States parties are
not obliged to abolish the death penalty totally they are obliged to limit its
use and, in particular, to abolish it for other than the “most serious crimes”.
Paragraph 7: “The Committee is of the opinion that the
expression “most serious crimes” must be read restrictively to mean that the
death penalty should be a quite exceptional measure. It also follows from the
express terms of article 6 that it can only be imposed in accordance with the
law in force at the time of the commission of the crime and not contrary to the
Covenant. The procedural guarantees therein prescribed must be observed, including
the right to a fair hearing by an independent tribunal, the presumption of
innocence, the minimum guarantees for the defence, and the right to review by a
higher tribunal. These rights are applicable in addition to the particular
right to seek pardon or commutation of the sentence.”
For more information and media requests, please contact
Rupert Colville (+41 22 917 9767 / rcolville@ohchr.org) or Liz Throssell ( +41 22 917 9466/ ethrossell@ohchr.org ) or
Ravina Shamdasani (+41 22 917 9169 / rshamdasani@ohchr.org )
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