Iran Continues to Execute Juvenile Criminals despite Calls of Moratorium by NGOs and UN

There have been repeated calls from the leaders of the international community urging Iran to stop its level of executions, especially those for juveniles sentenced for crimes committed while they were underage.

Yet, despite all these calls, the Iranian regime sees nothing wrong with using executions to oppress the Iranian people and terrorize those who might try to stand up to the regime. Even those who have committed horrible crimes are being executed, but with questionable trials and a judicial system that seems to provide little in the way of justice, the international community has repeated called for a moratorium on all executions.

Amnesty International recently drew attention to the case of Amirhossein Pourjafar, who is scheduled to be executed in a prison in Tehran. He was convicted for the rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl from the marginalized Afghan community.

“There is no question that this was a horrific crime and the perpetrator should be held accountable. Amnesty International supports the demands for justice voiced by Setayesh’s bereaved family and the wider Afghan community in Iran, but executing a 17-year-old boy is not justice,” said Magdalena Mughrabi, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Director at Amnesty International. “The use of the death penalty against people convicted of crimes committed while they were under 18 is absolutely prohibited by international human rights law. If Iran goes ahead with the execution next week, it will be another appalling breach of its international obligations.”

According to a statement by Amnesty International, the death sentence should be commuted to imprisonment. The Iranian court noted that the death sentence was given after taking into account the expectation of society and public opinion.

“The authorities’ rush to send a child to the gallows in order to placate public anger is short-sighted and misguided. The death penalty is a cruel, inhuman and irreversible punishment and there is no evidence that it has a greater deterrent effect than imprisonment. Using it as a means to exact revenge only compounds its brutal effects on society,” said Mughrabi.

This particular execution was scheduled after the head of Iran’s judiciary, Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani, claimed that Iran did not execute minors. The reality is that, according to Amnesty International, 85 juvenile offenders were executed in Iran from 2005 to 2017. Another 92 individuals are currently on death row for crimes they committed as children.

Outrageously, the court claimed that its reasoning was in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Iran is a state party. However, the Convention on the Rights of the Child is unequivocal in its absolute prohibition on the use of the death penalty for crimes committed by people below 18 years of age.

It is well-established in the principles of juvenile justice that individuals under 18 years of age are categorically less mature and culpable, and should never face the same penalties as adults. Yet, Iran is one of the countries who appears to support this ideal in international forums, but doesn’t follow that ideal within its own borders.

“Instead of resorting to case-by-case ‘maturity’ assessments, which are by their very nature flawed and arbitrary, the Iranian authorities must comply with their international obligations toward children and end the use of the death penalty against all juvenile offenders immediately,” said Mughrabi.

As the evidence shows, the case of this young man is not an isolated one. However, the convictions themselves may be suspect. Mehrab Eyvazi was arrested and accused of participating in a kidnapping and rape. Once in police custody, he was beaten, tortured, and threatened with rape while he stood naked in front of a camera. Eyvazi was sentenced to death, even while his confession was obtained during a time he was denied access to legal representation and his family.

“Mehrab was transferred to the detention of police station along with others and was not allowed to communicate with his family for a long time, he did not have a lawyer and also he was beaten so much during interrogation that he could not even move,” said one Eyvazi’s family members. “In contact with his family, Mehrab said that they had made him naked and forced him to lie down on the ground and beat and threaten him with rape while filming. Mehrab even told these to the judges and announced that his confessions had been obtained under pressure and torture, but the judge told him that such events would not happen in the Islamic system and accused him of lying.”

The reality is that juvenile offenders are not protected under the Iranian regime, but are often used to appease the social unrest, but the reality is that these continued executions of children demonstrate the heartlessness of the regime and its total disregard for the rights of its people.