UN Experts: Iran Must Stop Plans to Execute Teenager Hamid Ahmadi
According to a report by the Human Rights Activists in Iran (a member of the International Federation of Human Rights), a group of UN human rights experts including Asma Jahangir (Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran), Agnès Callamard (Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions), Nils Melzer, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment, and Benyamin Daviit Mixmor (Chair of the Committee on the Rights of the Child), called on the Islamic Republic of Iran in Geneva to immediately stop plans to execute teenage defendant Hamid Ahmadi on Saturday, February 4 (16 Bahman). This is the third time that Hamid Ahmadi has been scheduled for execution. In the two previous occasions, his execution was canceled at the last moment.
Mr. Ahmadi was convicted of execution in 2009 (1388) at the age of 17 for allegedly inflicting fatal knife wounds on a young man in a quarrel among five young boys in 2008. The court issued the sentence based on his confession, which according to reports he made under torture and mistreatment at the police station and while deprived of a lawyer and contact with his family.
UN human rights experts stated: “Based on our information, in Hamid Ahmadi’s case, the explicit guarantees of fair trial and due process contained in international human rights treaties have not been observed, allegations of torture and confessions obtained under pressure have not been considered, and investigations in this regard have not been conducted.”
The experts emphasized: “All death sentences that contradict the state’s international obligations, and especially convictions issued on the basis of confessions obtained under torture, are unlawful and constitute arbitrary executions.”
Nevertheless, Iran’s Supreme Court, which in November 2009 (Aban 1388) had overturned the death sentence due to doubts about the testimony of several key witnesses, ultimately upheld it one year later. Mr. Ahmadi was retried after the adoption of regulations on sentencing of juveniles in the Islamic Penal Code in 2013 (1392), but in December 2015 (Azar 1394) the criminal court of the province once again sentenced him to death.
UN experts said: “It is deeply regrettable that from the beginning of this year, executions of juveniles are again being planned and these executions are even being carried out at an unprecedented rate.”
“On January 17, we intervened regarding the execution of another teenager. After that, we learned that two other teenagers were executed on January 15 and 18 (26 and 29 Dey). Arman Bahar Asemani and Hassan Hasanzadeh were under 18 years old at the time they allegedly committed the crimes for which they were sentenced to death.”
These experts emphasized that international standards explicitly prohibit issuing and carrying out death sentences for persons under 18 years of age. “Iran must once and for all respect its international obligations by ending the execution of teenage defendants.”
They declared: “Planning for the execution of Hamid Ahmadi must be immediately stopped and his death sentence must be annulled. Furthermore, the execution of juveniles must be suspended without delay.”
Source: LDDHI
