Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran
A/69/356 para 103
Full recommendation:
The Government should consider extending the de facto moratorium on stoning. The continued
failure of the judiciary to guarantee due process rights, the frequent application of the death
penalty for crimes that do not meet the internationally permissible threshold for capital
punishment and the imposition of the death penalty on juvenile offenders warrant an immediate
and unconditional halt to such practices.
Assessment using Impact Iran human rights indicators1
A. Stoning
Iranian law prescribes various methods of execution including hanging, crucifixion, falling and
stoning. Although these are still in the law, in practice the death penalty is enforced only by
hanging. The execution of stoning sentences has been specifically suspended by the 2002
directive of the head of the judiciary, though it remains in law. Article 225 of the 2013 Islamic
Penal Code, for example, sets the punishment for “Zena-e mohsene” (sexual relationship outside
of marriage between man and woman, where one or both of the people involved are married) as
stoning, but states that "if the execution of the stoning punishment is not possible,” an alternative
punishment shall be imposed by the court’s proposal and after the head of the Judiciary’s
approval. No stoning punishments have been reported since 2009, due in large part to increased
international pressure in the aughts, which peaked in 2010, during the campaign to save Sakineh
Ashtiani. 2 Nevertheless, a directive issued by the Head of Judiciary in June 2019 gave a detailed
description of how death sentences by hanging, stoning and crucifixion should be implemented.3
In 2020, political prisoner Hedayat Abdullahpour was secretly executed by a firing squad, a
method not used since the 1980s.4
B. Juvenile executions
International law and human rights treaties define the age of criminal responsibility at 18 years
and above, and those below that age are considered to be juveniles.5 However, the laws in Iran,
and in particular the Islamic Penal Code, allow death sentences for criminals under the age of 18
1
CCPR.6.1.S.1; CCPR.6.1.P.2; CCPR.6.2.O.2; CCPR.7.1.S.1
https://www.theguardian.com/world/sakineh-mohammadi-ashtiani
3
https://rc.majlis.ir/fa/law/show/1152670
4
https://iranhr.net/en/articles/4294
5
https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx
2
1