By Laura Zuber
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

NEW YORK CITY, United States – On September 10, Human Rights Watch released a report, “The Last Holdouts: Ending the Juvenile Death Penalty.”  In the report, HRW renewed its call for a global ban against the practice of executing individuals for crimes committed as minors.  The report noted that only five states account for all of the juvenile executions since 2005: Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Pakistan, and Yemen.

The report states that Iran has executed 26 juvenile offenders since 2005.  So far, in 2008, Iran has executed six child offenders; including Behnam Zare on August 26 and Seyyed Reza Hejazi on August 19.  In addition to the six individuals executed, there are at least 130 others who are awaiting execution. 

The report also states that two juvenile offenders were executed in Saudi Arabia since 2005: Dhahiyan bin Rakan bin Sa`d al-Thawri al-Sibai`i on July 21, 2007, and Mu`id bin Husayn bin Abu al-Qasim bin `Ali Hakami on July 10, 2007. 

Both Iran and Saudi Arabia are members to the Convention on the Rights of the Child as well as the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights.  Both international treaties expressly prohibit the execution of individuals for crimes committed before the age of 18.  In addition, in 1994, the UN Human Rights Committee stated that it considered the prohibition against juvenile execution to be a part of international customary law. 

However, Article 7(1) of the 2004 Arab Human Rights Charter states “Sentence of death shall not be imposed on persons under 18 years of age, unless otherwise stipulated in the laws in force at the time of the commission of the crime.”  Both Iran and Saudi Arabia have laws which permit judges to impose the death penalty on child offenders.

In Iran, judges are permitted to impose the death penalty on individuals who have reached the age of majority (9 years old for girls and 15 years old for boys).  In Saudi Arabia judges have discretion to impose the death penalty on offenders who have reached puberty or who are 15 years old or older, whichever is first. 

The juvenile death penalty is outlawed in Yemen, but because birth registration levels were low young offenders can have trouble proving their age and are often treated as adults. Yemen last executed a juvenile offender in February 2007.  Adil Muhammad Saif al-Ma’amari was executed despite claiming that he was only 16 years old when the crime occurred and that he had been tortured to confess.   

For more information, please see:

News Yemen – UN holds Yemen, KSA, Iran, Pakistan Responsible for Juvenile Executions – 15 September 2008 

Human Rights Watch – The Last Holdouts, Ending the Juvenile Death Penalty in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Pakistan and Yemen – 10 September 2008 

Human Rights Watch – UN: Five Countries Responsible for ALL Executions of Juvenile Offenders – 10 September 2008 

Reuters – Iran Accounts for Most Juvenile Executions-Report – 10 September 2008