Request to Halt Execution of Hadadi in Lawyer's Letter to Head of Judiciary

The defense lawyer of Mohammad Reza Hadadi, who committed murder at the age of 15 and is sentenced to death, has requested in an open letter to the Head of the Judiciary of Iran to refrain from executing the sentence and to review Hadadi's case again. According to ISNA, on Saturday, August 19, lawyer Hossein Ahmadi Niaz wrote to the Head of the Judiciary that Mohammad Reza Hadadi, at the age of 15, committed murder along with three older youths and accepted his friends' suggestion to take responsibility for the murder due to his family's poverty. Mr. Ahmadi Niaz stated that his client was led to believe that if he accepted responsibility for the murder, he would be considered 'not responsible' due to his age. He also mentioned in the letter that the 'main' defendants in this case have made confessions that will be 'effective' in proving Mohammad Reza Hadadi's innocence. This lawyer requested the Head of the Judiciary to use his powers under Article 477 of the Criminal Procedure Code to provide an opportunity for a retrial in this case. According to Article 477 of Iran's Criminal Procedure Code, the Head of the Judiciary can intervene in a case only if he believes that there has been a 'contradiction to Sharia' in the case. Mohammad Reza Hadadi's death sentence has been postponed four times so far. However, according to his lawyer, the execution is set to take place 'in the coming days.' Now 28 years old, he was arrested at the age of 15 for the murder of Mohammad Baqer Rahmat. His defense lawyer stated that Mohammad Reza Hadadi committed the murder in Kazeroon and has spent his years of imprisonment in Adelabad prison in Shiraz. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on the Rights of the Child, which Iran is a signatory to, as well as UN standards regarding youth, prohibit the execution of individuals who were under 18 at the time of committing the crime. However, previously, several individuals who committed murder under the age of 18 have been executed after reaching the age of 18. For instance, less than ten days ago, on the morning of Thursday, August 10, Alireza Tajiki, who had been imprisoned in Adelabad prison in Shiraz since the age of 15 for 'rape and murder,' was executed in the same city. In response to the execution of this sentence, Amnesty International called Alireza Tajiki's execution 'shameless.' In 2016, the spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights stated that the use of the death penalty against offenders under 18 years old violates international human rights laws. Rupert Colville emphasized at that time that reports indicated that last year Iran executed at least five teenagers and that, according to available reports, 78 others are awaiting execution. These are individuals who were under 18 at the time of committing their crimes. However, the actual figures may be much higher. Previously, human rights organizations have called for a halt to the death sentences of some young individuals who committed crimes like murder under the age of 18 and are at risk of execution. Hamid Ahmadi, Sajjad Sanjari, and Salar Shadizadi are among these prisoners.