Iran Human Rights Organization: At Least Two Child Offenders Executed in 2023

The Iran Human Rights Organization criticized the continued executions of child offenders in Iran, announcing that at least two child offenders were executed in 2023. The death sentences of Ali Najafi from Kuhdasht on September 27, 2023, and Hamidreza Azari from Sabzevar on November 24, 2023, were carried out, with their charges being 'murder.' According to the Iran Human Rights Organization, Hamidreza Azari was 17 years and 3 months old at the time of execution. The report also mentions the potential execution of three other child offenders named Abdolsamad Shahvazhi, Mahmoud Rigi, and Adel Damani in two prisons in Zahedan and Chabahar last year. The organization reported that at least 70 child offenders have been executed in Iran between 2010 and 2023. The Islamic Penal Code, enacted in 2013, explicitly defines the 'age of criminal responsibility' based on the age of legal maturity, with girls over 9 years and boys over 15 years being subject to execution if convicted of crimes such as 'apostasy' or 'murder.' Furthermore, the Iran Human Rights Organization criticized Article 91 of the Islamic Penal Code regarding the issuance of alternative sentences for child offenders 'lacking sufficient mental maturity and reasoning ability' as 'ambiguous' and criticized its 'arbitrary and discretionary' application. This article allows judges to assess the mental growth of the child offender at the time of the crime and potentially apply an alternative punishment based on the outcome. The Iran Human Rights Organization has called for a change in the law in Iran and urged the authorities to unconditionally abolish all death sentences for all crimes committed by individuals under 18. In previous years, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and human rights organizations have consistently urged Iranian authorities to halt the issuance and execution of death sentences for child offenders. According to UN experts, at least 85 child offenders were on death row in Iranian prisons in 2021. The UN General Assembly expressed 'serious concern' in November 2023 regarding the continued imposition of the death penalty by the Islamic Republic for individuals below the legal age. However, Iranian officials have so far defended the issuance and execution of death sentences for child offenders. Majid Tafreshi, Deputy Head of the Human Rights Headquarters of the Islamic Republic, stated in July 2021 in an interview with AFP that the execution of child offenders does not constitute a violation of human rights. He reported that the annual number of executions of child offenders in Iran is 'three to four cases' and claimed that these executions do not symbolize a violation of human rights. Meanwhile, human rights organizations report that Iran carries out the death penalty for child offenders more than any other country in the world. A human rights organization reported: Iran ranks first in the world for the execution of women. The campaign 'Against Executions in Iran' has seen activists in cyberspace calling for the 'end of this 45-year-old rope.' The guidelines for assessing 'mental growth' of offenders under 18 have created a 'uniformity' in executions. The European Union stated that the speed of executions in Iran is 'horrific.'