under the age of 18. This law excludes qisas while emphasizing that the Islamic Penal Code, and
thus the death penalty, is still valid in such cases.9
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 has 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 is deemed not 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.
Despite legal developments, Iranian law still permits the death penalty for child offenders,
including in cases of murder (in accordance with qisas) or hudad.11 Since 1990, Iran reportedly
has executed more child offenders than any other State worldwide,12 including at least 33 child
offenders since 2013 with at least 21 of those children sentenced to death on the basis of qisas.13
The 6 child offenders, aged between 14 and 17 at the time of the crime, reportedly executed in
2018, were convicted for the crime of murder under qisas.14 At least 4 juvenile offenders were
executed in both 2019 and 220 respectively. Of those, 2 were executed on rape charges and 6
were executed on murder charges. 15 16. The Government of Iran has commented that extensive
efforts were made to satisfy the victim’s next of kin through mediation in order to convert qisas
to diya. It further noted that its “principled policy … is to encourage compromise even with …
cash assistance to realize the payment of the diyeh” and “this is the prevailing trend and main
course of dealing with this group of offenders”. The Government also referred to the
establishment of a reconciliation commission and a task force consisting of officials,
psychologists, social workers, corrections officials, lawyers, and members of civil society that
support mediation with the victim’s next of kin. Additionally, conflict resolution council
branches and the Women and Children and Protection Office of the Judiciary allegedly intervene
9
Article 25 of the Law of “Protection of Children and Adolescents”.
https://undocs.org/en/A/HRC/40/67 para 39
11
Iran Human Rights and ECPM, “Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran 2019”, https://www.iranhr.net/en/reports/22/
12
Amnesty International, “Executions of Juveniles Since 1990 as of November 2019”, accessed April 25, 2020,
https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/ACT5002332019ENGLISH.pdf
13
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
14
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, A/HRC/40/67 (30 January
2019) paras 38 and 52, https://undocs.org/en/A/HRC/40/67
15
https://iranhr.net/en/articles/4727/
16
https://iranhr.net/media/files/Rapport_iran-GB.pdf
10
2