Execution of Mohammad Reza Haddadi Delayed

The lawyer of Mohammad Reza Haddadi, a prisoner sentenced to death in his youth, states that the execution of this sentence has been postponed. Hossein Ahmadi-Niaz told ISNA on June 2 that his client's execution 'will not be carried out temporarily according to the decision of judicial officials.' Mr. Ahmadi-Niaz says, 'We are pursuing the matter to submit a request for the application of Article 91 of the Penal Code and a retrial to the Supreme Court.' He refers to an article that states, 'In crimes punishable by Hadd or Qisas, if individuals under 18 years of age do not understand the nature of the crime or its sanctity, or if there is doubt about their mental growth and maturity, they will be sentenced according to the punishments specified in this chapter, considering their age.' The court may seek the opinion of forensic medicine in this regard. Mohammad Reza Haddadi's sentence has been postponed four times before. Haddadi, who is now 27 years old, was arrested at the age of 15 on charges of killing Mohammad Baqer Rahmat. He confessed to the murder during initial investigations, but his lawyer claims that the real killers were others who promised Haddadi money in exchange for taking the blame and told him that he would not be executed because he was a minor. Mr. Ahmadi-Niaz told ISNA, 'We have obtained new evidence that shows my client's innocence.' The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on the Rights of the Child, which Iran has signed, along with the UN standards for juvenile justice management adopted in 1986, prohibit the execution of individuals who were under 18 at the time of the crime. Human rights organizations have repeatedly protested against the imposition of the death penalty in Iran, a country that ranks second in this regard after China. Non-governmental organizations have specifically criticized the execution of minors under 18.