UN experts: Iran should halt plans to execute juvenile defendant Hamid Ahmadi
According to the Society for the Defense of Human Rights in Iran (a member of the International Federation of Human Rights Societies), a group of UN human rights experts including Asmeh Jahangir (Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran), Agnes Callamard (Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions), Mr. Nils Melzer, Special Rapporteur on torture and other ill-treatment
and Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Punishments, and Benjamin David Mezmur (Chair of the Committee on the Rights of the Child), in Geneva, called on the Islamic Republic of Iran to immediately halt plans to execute juvenile defendant Hamid Ahmadi on Saturday, February 4 (16 Bahman). This is the third time that Hamid Ahmadi has been put to death. On the previous two occasions, his execution was cancelled at the last minute.
Mr. Ahmadi was sentenced to death in 2009, at the age of 17, for fatally stabbing a young man during a fight between five young boys in 2008. The court based the sentence on his confession, which he reportedly made under torture and ill-treatment at the police station, while being denied access to a lawyer and contact with his family.
UN human rights experts said: "Based on our knowledge, in Hamid Ahmadi's case, explicit guarantees of a fair trial and due process standards set forth in international human rights treaties have not been observed, allegations of torture and confessions obtained under duress have not been considered, and no investigation has been conducted in this regard."
The experts emphasized: "All death sentences that are contrary to the government's international obligations, and in particular convictions based on confessions obtained under torture, are illegal and amount to arbitrary execution."
However, Iran’s Supreme Court, which had overturned the death sentence in November 2009 due to doubts about the testimony of several key witnesses, finally upheld it a year later. Mr. Ahmadi was retried after the enactment of juvenile sentencing provisions in the Islamic Penal Code in 2013, but in December 2015 the provincial criminal court once again sentenced him to death.
UN experts said: "It is deeply regrettable that since the beginning of this year, executions of juveniles have been planned again, and these executions are even being carried out at an unprecedented rate."
"On January 17, we intervened in the execution of another juvenile. We later learned that two other juveniles had been executed on January 15 and 18. Arman Bahr Asemani and Hassan Hassanzadeh were under 18 years old at the time of the crimes for which they were sentenced to death."
The experts emphasized that international standards explicitly prohibit the issuance and execution of death sentences for persons under the age of 18. “Iran must comply with its international obligations by ending the execution of juvenile defendants once and for all.”
They declared: “The planning for the execution of Hamid Ahmadi must be immediately halted and his death sentence must be overturned. In addition, the execution of juveniles must be suspended without delay.”
Source: LDDHI
