Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran
A/HRC/40/67 para 75(c)
Full recommendation:
Pending implementation of the aforementioned recommendations, and without prejudice to the
binding obligation enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to not sentence children to death and to not execute child
offenders, the Special Rapporteur recommends that the judiciary: (c) Undertake a prompt,
effective and transparent review of all child offenders on death row and ensure that they are
afforded legal representation and financial and other needed support to exercise their right to a
retrial as provided for by article 91 of the Penal Code.
Assessment using Impact Iran human rights indicators1
A. The Special Rapporteur recommends that the judiciary undertakes a prompt,
effective and transparent review of all child offenders on death row
In the January 2020 report, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the
Islamic Republic of Iran wrote that “he continues to monitor the situation of child offenders on
death row, and has received information that there are at present at least 100 individuals who
have been sentenced to death for crimes committed when they were under 18 years of age”.2
Iranian authorities executed 6 juvenile offenders in 2018, 4 in 2019 and 4 in 2020. 3 4 There is no
readily available information that might indicate that the judiciary has undertaken a prompt,
effective and transparent review of all child offenders on death row.
Amendments made to the Islamic Penal Code in 2013 allow judges to pronounce alternative
sentences in circumstances where the juveniles “do not realise the nature of the crime committed
or its prohibition, or if there is uncertainty about their full mental development, according to their
age”.5 The Article further adds that “the court may ask for the opinion of forensic medicine or
resort to any other method that it sees appropriate in order to establish the full mental
development [of the accused]”. A number of child offenders on death row requested retrials on
the basis of the 2013 amendments, prompting the judiciary to undertake reviews of these cases.
1
CCPR.6.5.S.1; CRC.6.1.S.2; CRC.37.4.S.1; CCPR.6.5.P.1; CRC.37.4.P.1; CCPR.37.4.P.2; CCPR.6.5.O.1; CCPR.6.5.O.2;
CCPR.37.2.O.2CRC.37.4.O.2
2
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, January 2020,
https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/IR/Report_of_the_Special_Rapporteur_on_the_situation_of_human_rights_in_the_
Islamic_Republic_of_IranA4361.pdf
3
https://iranhr.net/en/articles/4727
4
Iran Human Rights: https://iranhr.net/media/files/Rapport_iran-GB.pdf and https://iranhr.net/media/files/Rapport_iran_2019GB-BD.pdf
5
Article 91, Islamic Penal Code (2013), English translation, Iran Human Rights Documentation Center,
https://iranhrdc.org/english-translation-of-books-i-ii-of-the-new-islamic-penal-code/
1