in these cases. Non-governmental organisations reportedly also support mediation and fundraising for payments of diya. Notwithstanding such alleged efforts, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Javaid Rehman (“Special Rapporteur”), has received reports that relevant actors are “reluctant to intervene in cases of hudud crimes such as adultery, same-sex relationships, or murder crimes also involving rape”.17 Under the Islamic Penal Code, the Iranian courts continue to exercise considerable discretion in deciding to impose the death penalty for children who committed a hudud or qisas crime. In recent years, numerous reports indicate that Iranian courts have selectively applied Article 91 of Islamic Penal Code and its guiding notes in sentencing child offenders to the death penalty.18 In 2016, the Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed “serious concern” that decisions to exempt children from death sentences under Article 91 of Islamic Penal Code are under full judicial discretion.19 The Special Rapporteur described this judicial discretion as “problematic” because the criteria for assessing children’s mental development is undefined and subjective.20 Despite forensic reports confirming that the defendant was not “fully mature” at the time of the crime, some judges, reportedly, use their discretion to decide that the defendant was mature and the language of Article 91 of Islamic Penal Code did not apply to the individual, as they had previously been charged for criminal activities (e.g. robbery). Some judges allegedly have concluded that the child offender was “mature” based on simple factors such as: if the child understood if it was wrong to kill another human being, if the defendant had grown body hair (used as assessment for mental development), or contributed a lack of mental health concerns with criminal responsibility as those with diminished criminal responsibility typically have mental health issues or are “afflicted with insanity”.21 Iran justifies the execution of child offenders on the policy that no children under the age of 18 years old are executed. That is, under Islamic Penal Code, if a child commits a crime punishable by death, the death sentence can be imposed on that individual after a court hearing, but the execution of the death penalty will be suspended until the offender reaches the age of 18 years old. 17 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 52, https://undocs.org/en/A/HRC/40/67 18 Amnesty International, https://www.amnestyusa.org/press-releases/irans-hypocrisy-exposed-as-scores-of-juvenile-offenderscondemned-to-gallows/ 19 CRC/C/IRN/CO/3-4, paras 35–36 20 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 61, https://undocs.org/en/A/HRC/40/67 21 Amnesty International, https://www.amnestyusa.org/press-releases/irans-hypocrisy-exposed-as-scores-of-juvenile-offenderscondemned-to-gallows/; 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 61, https://undocs.org/en/A/HRC/40/67 3