In 2013, Iran amended the Islamic Penal Code to give judges the discretion to exempt children
from the death penalty, under Article 91 of Islamic Penal Code, if the judge assessed that the
child did not realise the nature of the crime or if there is uncertainty about his or her mental
development (in other words, the child defendant is not “completely mature”) at the time of
committing the crime. If the defendant was deemed not completely mature at the time of
committing the crime, the court may impose alternative punishments, such as imprisonment. The
Government of Iran stated its policy goal to utilize mediation when possible so as to avoid
executions.10 Furthermore, the Islamic Penal Code’s guiding notes highlight the importance of
restorative justice and juvenile rehabilitation, and provides the opportunity for judges to exercise
discretion by seeking a medical expert’s opinion from the "Forensic Medicine Organization" to
determine the defendant’s maturity at the time of the crime.
In 2014, Iran’s Supreme Court also confirmed that all juvenile offenders on death row could
apply for a retrial.11 In June 2015, Iran introduced reforms specifying that juveniles accused of a
crime must be dealt with by specialised juvenile courts. Previously, juvenile offenders accused of
capital crimes were generally prosecuted by adult courts.12 Iran’s legal system considers that
juveniles are those individuals who are above Iran’s age of maturity under Article 147 of the
Islamic Penal Code, yet under 18 years old.
Despite legal developments and the opportunity to impose alternative sentences for child
offenders, Iranian law continues to permit the imposition of the death penalty for child offenders,
which can be applied to cases of murder (in accordance with qisas).13 Since 1990, Iran has
reportedly executed more child offenders than any other State worldwide, and their total number
of such executions is over double the cumulative number of child offenders executed by the
following nine States with the highest number of child executions.14 Reportedly, Iranian
authorities have executed at least 33 child offenders since 2013.15 This number includes 13 child
offenders in 2014, 5 in 2017, 6 in 2018, 4 in 2019 and 4 in 2020.16
10
https://undocs.org/en/A/HRC/40/67 para 39
https://rc.majlis.ir/fa/law/show/133797
12
The amendment to Criminal Procedure Code, Article 315 of the Code of Criminal Procedure calls for the establishment of one
or several special juvenile branches in Provincial Criminal Courts (renamed Criminal Courts 1 under the Code of Criminal
Procedure), with jurisdiction over all offences committed by people under 18 years of age which ordinarily fall, when committed
by adults, under the jurisdiction of Provincial Criminal Courts or Revolutionary Courts. https://shenasname.ir/laws/2327-keifari
13
Iran Human Rights and ECPM, “Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran 2019”, https://www.iranhr.net/en/reports/22/
14
Amnesty International, “Executions of Juveniles Since 1990 as of November 2019”, accessed April 25, 2020,
https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/ACT5002332019ENGLISH.pdf
15
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, A/HRC/40/67 (30 January
2019) para 60, https://undocs.org/en/A/HRC/40/67
16
https://iranhr.net/en/articles/4727/
11
2