reports confirming that the defendant was not “fully mature” at the time of the crime, the judge
decided that the accused individual(s) were mature and the language of Article 91 did not apply
to them, as they had previously been charged for criminal activities (e.g., robbery). In general,
the current law permits the issuance of death penalty sentences for those under the age of 18, and
the reforms introduced by the Islamic Penal Code have not been able to remove this type of
punishment from legislation.
Iran's justification for juvenile executions is that they do not execute any juveniles before the age
of 18. That is, under existing law, if a person under the age of 18 commits a crime punishable by
death, the death sentence will continue to be imposed on the juvenile offender after a court
hearing, but the execution of death penalty will be suspended until the offender reaches the age
of 18. Despite amendments to Iranian law in this regard, and the imposition of alternative
punishments like imprisonment for juvenile offenders, the death penalty is still being issued and
carried out in the case of murder (qisas). 7
Since 1990, Iran has executed more juvenile offenders than any other country in the world, and
the number is more than double the total number of juvenile offenders executed by countries
which constitute the next nine countries that continue to execute minors.8 Under the IPC, judges
have discretion to grant alternative punishment to minors and individuals who committed crimes
while under 18 years of age, but Iran’s judges have continued to sentence juveniles and juvenile
offenders to death.9 Iran also executes people who are under the age of 18.
B. Most serious crimes
There is currently no standing moratorium on death penalty in Iran. Most of the crimes that are
punishable by death in Iranian law would not be considered “most serious” under international
law. Iranian law allows the issuance of death sentences for various crimes. There are three types
of death penalty punishments in Iranian law. Qisas execution, hud`ud execution and tazir
execution. Currently the following crimes are punishable by death: intentional murder (qisas)10;
sex offenses including adultery with married persons, rape, incest and sodomy (hudud)11; crimes
against religion and society, including moharebeh, corruption, apostasy, and hypocrisy (hudud);
7
Iran Human Rights and ECPM, Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran 2019, 34. https://www.iranhr.net/en/reports/22/
Amnesty International, “Executions of Juveniles Since 1990 as of November 2019” accessed April 25, 2020,
https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/ACT5002332019ENGLISH.pdf
9
Iran Human Rights and ECPM, Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran 2019, 16.
10
The subject of "Qisas" is mentioned in the third book of the Islamic Penal Code, which covers Articles 289 to 537, Articles
301 to 311 (Chapter 3 in Part I, Book III), and Articles 381 to 385 (Chapter II in Book III).
11
The subject of "Hudud" is mentioned in the second book of the Islamic Penal Code, which covers Articles 217 to 288. Among
the crimes under this "title" that could lead to the death penalty are:
Adultery (Chapter 1, Section 1 of the Second Book), Articles 224 and 225.
Sodomy (Chapter 2, Part 1 of the Second Book), Articles 234 and 236.
Insult to the Prophets (Chapter 5, Section 1, Book 2), Article 262.
Theft for the fourth time (Chapter 7, Part 1 of the second book), Article 278.
Moharebeh (War against God) (Chapter 8, Part 1 of the Second Book), Article 282.
Corruption on Earth (Chapter 9, Section 1 of the Second Book), Articles 286 and 287.
8
2