Iran Human Rights Organization Warns of Possible Execution of Two ‘Child Offenders’
Iran Human Rights Organization, based in Norway, warned on Wednesday, April 3, of the possibility of executing a “child offender” in Sepidар Prison in Ahvaz.
The accused individual, identified as “Sassan M.,” was reportedly arrested at age 17 and sentenced to death by execution (Qisas) on charges of premeditated murder.
According to Iran Human Rights Organization, citing the Rokna news website, this child offender committed the premeditated murder while he was 17 years old during a football game in the course of a dispute and altercation.
Sassan M. has been in prison for the past four years. According to the report, the family of the victim has demanded 500 million tomans in blood money (Diyeh) in exchange for pardoning the child offender, but the accused’s family is unable to provide this amount.
Iran Human Rights Organization had also warned on Tuesday, April 2, about the imminent danger of execution for another child offender in Shiraz Prison.
This prisoner is named Hamidrezа Azhdarі, who was also arrested at age 17 on charges of premeditated murder and sentenced to death.
According to this human rights organization, based on existing identity documents, Hamidrezа Azhdarі’s age at the time of the murder was above 18 years old. However, his birth certificate belongs to the family’s first child who was born two years before him and had died, and Hamidrezа Azhdarі’s parents used the first child’s birth certificate for him after his birth.
Iran Human Rights Organization stated that all documents are kept with this organization and can be provided to international bodies if necessary.
The execution of “child offenders” in Iran has faced severe criticism from the international community in recent years and has consistently been a significant part of reports by Javid Rehman, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran.
The Islamic Republic of Iran is among the few countries that carries out the death penalty for child offenders.
A “child offender” in international law refers to individuals who were under 18 years old at the time of committing the crime, and according to the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, severe punishments such as execution should not be imposed on them.
Iranian authorities, citing Islamic law, consider the religious age of responsibility for capital punishment when executing offenders under 18 years old. According to Islamic rulings, this age is set at 9 years for girls and 15 years for boys.
Nevertheless, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child since 1993 and is obligated to comply with its provisions.
According to the annual report of Iran Human Rights Organization, the Islamic Republic executed at least two “child offenders” in 2021.
In the annual statistics of executions in 2020 worldwide, the Islamic Republic of Iran was announced as the only country where individuals under 18 years old were executed. According to Amnesty International, currently dozens of child offenders are spending their lives under the heavy shadow of capital punishment in Iranian prisons.
Most of these individuals have been sentenced to death for premeditated murder under the name of “Qisas” (retaliatory justice). Iranian authorities, citing Islamic criminal law, have placed the decision-making regarding these executions in the hands of the victim’s family (Oliyaye Dam). This is while legal experts and human rights defenders argue that according to international law, the decision regarding punishment of the offender should be the responsibility of the judicial system.
Source: Voice of America
