By Yasmine S. Hakimian
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
SHIRAZ, Iran – Mohammad Reza Haddadi, a minor offender, is scheduled to be hanged on October 9. The Criminal Court in Kazeroon sentenced Haddadi to death on January 6, 2004, for the August 2003 alleged kidnapping and murder of taxi driver Mohammad Bagher Rahmat. Haddadi was 15 years old at the time. Haddadi’s co-defendants were all over 18 at the time of the crime and they received lower sentences.
According to his lawyer, Mr. Mostafaei, Haddadi didn’t commit the murder. Mr. Mostafaei states his client merely confessed to the murder because of his poverty and young age. Haddadi retracted his confession in a letter to the court as soon as he learned his mother had not received any money from his co-defendants. The letter explained that his co-defendants tricked him into taking the blame by falsely promising to provide his family with money and other benefits. Haddadi faces execution even though he retracted his confession and his co-defendants eventually withdrew their statements implicating him.
In February, Mr. Mostafaei wrote a letter to the head of the Iranian judiciary requesting that they reconsider Haddadi’s case. Mr. Mostafaei’s request was unsuccessful and Haddadi stands to be to be hanged on October 9. The hanging will take place at the Kaeroun prison in southern Iran.
The United Nations bans the death penalty for offenses committed by minors. Every state in the world has ratified treaties to prevent those under 18 (at the time of the crime) from being sentenced to death. The majority of states have complied fully with this obligation. Iran has ratified two treaties that prohibit juvenile executions: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Haddadi’s planned execution on October 9 violates Iran’s human rights obligation to not execute juvenile offenders.
Iran has the highest incidence of juvenile executions. In Iran, judges can impose the death penalty in capital cases if the defendant has attained “majority.” Majority, as defined by Iranian law means age 9 for girls and age 15 for boys. Six minor offenders have been executed in Iran this year. According to a report by Human Rights Watch, Iranian authorities are responsible for 26 of the 32 minor executions worldwide since 2005.
Currently, there are more than 150 juvenile offenders sentenced to death in Iran. Clarisa Bencomo, a Middle East children’s rights researcher for Human Rights Watch, explained that states that execute minor offenders acknowledge that such executions are wrong. According to Bencomo, “changes in law and practice need to be faster.”
For more information, please see:
Iran Human Rights – Urgent: The Minor Offender Mohammad Reza Haddadi is Scheduled to be Executed on October 9 in Southern Iran – 5 October 2008
Iran Human Rights – 32 Minor Offenders Executed Since 2005- 26 of the Executions Have Taken Place in Iran – 10 September 2008
Amnesty International – Mohammad Reza Haddadi, Aged 18; Reza Hejazi, Aged 19; Iman Hashemi, Aged 18: Child Offenders – 13 March 2008
Human Rights Watch – Iran: Halt Execution of Juvenile Offender – 22 February 2008
Stop Child Executions – Three More Youth Sentenced to Death in Iran – 12 January 2008
