Zeid urges Iran to stop violating international law by
executing juvenile offenders
GENEVA (16 February 2018) – Noting a surge in the number
of juvenile offenders being executed in Iran, the UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on Friday urged Iran “to abide by
international law and immediately halt all executions of people sentenced to
death for crimes committed when they were under eighteen.”
Already, during the first month of 2018, three people –
two male and one female –have been executed for crimes they committed when they
were 15 or 16 years old. This compares to the execution of a total of five
juvenile offenders during the whole of 2017. A fourth juvenile offender, who
was believed to be on the point of being executed on Wednesday, has reportedly
received a temporary reprieve of two months. A number of other juvenile
offenders are also believed to be in danger of imminent execution in Iran, with
a total of some 80 such individuals reported to be currently on death row,
after being sentenced to death for crimes they committed when they were under
eighteen.
“The execution of juvenile offenders is unequivocally
prohibited under international law, regardless of the circumstances and nature
of the crime committed,” said Zeid. “The imposition of the death penalty on
people who committed crimes when they were under 18 is in clear violation of
Iran’s obligations under two international treaties that is has ratified and is
obliged to uphold – namely the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child*.”
“I am sad to say that Iran violates this absolute
prohibition under international human rights law far more often than any other
State,” he said. “No other State comes even remotely close to the total number
of juveniles who have been executed in Iran over the past couple of decades.”
The UN Human Rights Chief also noted that Iran ascribes
criminal responsibility to girls as young as nine years old, whereas boys are
not considered criminally responsible until they reach the age of 15**. He
described the discrepancy between the two genders as “wholly unjustifiable on
every level,” and the application of the death penalty to any person, female or
male, under 18 as “illegal and unacceptable.”
The three juvenile offenders subjected to the death
penalty in January were:
Mahboubeh Mofidi, who was 16 years old when, with the
help of her brother-in-law, she allegedly killed her husband, who had married
her when she was just 13 years old. She was 20 at the time of her execution on
30 January.
18-year-old Amir Hussein Pourjafar who allegedly raped
and murdered a young Afghan girl when he was 16;
22-year-old Ali Kazemi who was just 15 when he allegedly
committed murder.
The UN Human Rights Office is particularly concerned
about the fate of Abolfazl Chezani Sharahi, whose planned execution in Qom on
17 January was postponed for unknown
reasons (he is believed to have been scheduled for execution at least four
times in all for a crime allegedly committed when he was 15); and Hamid Hamadi,
whose trial is widely considered to have been grossly unfair, is also believed
to be at risk of execution at any moment for a crime allegedly committed when
he was 17. He is believed to have been scheduled for execution at least five
times.
Omid Rostami, whose scheduled execution along with 12
other people on Thursday in Karaj was postponed after the family of his alleged
victim agreed to pardon him in exchange for diyah or ‘blood money,’ is still at
risk if his family fails to raise the required funds within two months.
The High Commissioner noted that there had been some
partial improvements in relation to other aspects of the application of the
death penalty in Iran, most notably a bill amending the drug-trafficking law
that was approved by the Guardian Council in October 2017. As a result of this
amendment, some drug offences that were previously punishable by the death
penalty are now subject to a prison term, although the mandatory death sentence
is retained for a wide range of drug-related offences.
The amendment provides for retroactive applicability,
which means that all people currently on death row for drug-related offences
which are no longer punishable by the death penalty should see their sentence
commuted. The Deputy Head of the Justice Committee of the Parliament has stated
that about 5,300 inmates were on death row for drug crimes, and the High
Commissioner calls for the swift establishment of modalities for the review of
all cases of individuals sentenced to death under the drug-trafficking law, and
that the review should follow the principles of transparency, due process and
ensure effective legal representation of all those sentenced to death .
Successive High Commissioners for Human Rights have urged
Iran to stop all violations of international law relating to the death penalty,
in particular the absolute prohibition of the application of the death penalty
for juvenile offenders, and impose a moratorium on all executions with a view
to ending the use of the death penalty altogether.
ENDS
*ICCPR Article 6.5
Sentence of death shall not be imposed for crimes committed by persons
below eighteen years of age and shall not be carried out on pregnant women.
CRC Article
37: “States Parties shall ensure that:
(a) No child
shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment. Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without
possibility of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below
eighteen years of age;
**The minimum age of criminal responsibility in Iran is
nine lunar years for girls and 15 lunar years for boys, and the amended Islamic
Penal Code retains the death penalty for boys and girls who have attained these
ages.
For media requests, please contact Rupert Colville (+41
22 917 9767 / rcolville@ohchr.org) or Liz Throssell (+41 22 917 9466 /
ethrossell@ohchr.org).
2018 is the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, adopted by the UN on 10 December 1948. The Universal
Declaration – translated into a world record 500 languages – is rooted in the
principle that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and
rights.” It remains relevant to everyone, every day. In honour of the
70thanniversary of this extraordinarily influential document, and to prevent
its vital principles from being eroded, we are urging people everywhere to
Stand Up for Human Rights: www.standup4humanrights.org.
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