Iran: Further information on: Fear of imminent execution, Abbas Hosseini

Amnesty International:

PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 13/018/2005 03 May 2005

Further Information on UA 87/05 (MDE 13/011/2005, 15 April 2005) Fear of imminent execution

IRAN

Abbas Hosseini (m), Afghan national, aged 19The execution of Abbas Hosseini has been stayed until 8 May 2005. He had been scheduled to be executed on 1 May for a murder committed when he was 17. If his execution goes ahead, it will be in breach of treaties that expressly prohibit the use of the death penalty for crimes committed by those under the age of 18.

According to reports on 30 April, the stay was granted in order to give the victim's family another opportunity to accept payment of compensation (diyeh) in return for the commutation of the death sentence. The family has so far insisted that the death sentence be carried out.

If the victim's family continue to insist on the death penalty, the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei, may still commute the death sentence or pardon Abbas Hosseini. However, under Article 24 of The Islamic Criminal Code and Article 110 of Iran's Constitution, the Supreme Leader can only act if the Head of the Judiciary recommends a commutation or a pardon.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

As a state party to the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Iran has undertaken not to execute anyone for an offence committed when they were under the age of 18.

Nevertheless, 11 child offenders have been executed in Iran since 1990, and at least 36 children are under sentence of death. On 20 January 2005 Iman Farokhi was executed for a crime committed when he was 17 years old. On the same day an Iranian governmental delegation claimed that Iran does not execute people under the age of 18, in a declaration to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child.

The Committee, which monitors states' implementation of the CRC, urged Iran to immediately stay all executions of people convicted of crimes committed when they were under 18, and abolish the use of the death penalty in such cases. The Committee said that it "deplored" the fact that Iran had continued to carry out such executions even after it ratified the CRC, including the execution that had taken place that day.

For the last three years, the Iranian authorities have been considering legislation that would prohibit the use of the death penalty for offences committed under the age of 18. Rasoul Mohammadi, a 17-year-old boy who was due to be executed on 16 April at Esfahan prison was granted a stay of execution as a result of "ambiguities" about his age (see UA 86/05, MDE 13/012/2005, 14 April 2005 and follow-up, MDE 13/015/2005, 18 April 2005).