However, in 2017, a number of UN special procedure mandate holders considered the ongoing
executions of child offenders in the Islamic Republic of Iran as “conclusive proof of the failure
of the 2013 amendments to stop the execution of individuals sentenced to death as children”.6 In
2019, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran
found that the aforementioned assessment of the mental development of the accused at the time
of the offence was “arbitrary and inconsistent, and at the sole discretion of the judge, who can
choose whether to seek medical advice or not”.7 This suggests that reviews of child offenders on
death row undertaken following the 2013 amendments of the Islamic Republic are not effective
and transparent.
The prohibition on the imposition of the death penalty on children is widely considered to be jus
cogens under international law and represents a violation of Articles 6(5) of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and 37(a) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The Human Rights Committee has explicitly stipulated that the death penalty cannot be imposed
if it cannot be proven, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the accused was 18 or older at the time of
the offence.8
B. The Special Rapporteur recommends that the judiciary ensures that child offenders
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
The Constitution of Iran (Article 35) grants everyone the right to select a lawyer and states that if
a person is unable to do so, arrangements must be made to provide them with legal counsel.9
Child defendants are considered under the same criminal legal framework as adults in the Islamic
Republic of Iran. State- funded legal aid is available to persons who provide evidence that they
do not have the financial means to secure legal representation; however, there is no priority given
to or special regime for applications submitted on behalf of children.10 Iranian law recognizes the
right to a lawyer for all criminal defendants including child and juvenile defendants,11 although
there are exceptions and restrictions applied to that right, detailed below.
With regards to the provision of qualified and independent legal aid at the early stages of the
legal proceedings, the new Code of Criminal Procedure (CCP) allows defendants, including child
defendants, upon their request, to access a lawyer within the initial investigation phase. The
6
See OHCHR News, www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=21547&LangID=E
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, January 2019,
https://undocs.org/Home/Mobile?FinalSymbol=A%2FHRC%2F40%2F67&Language=E&DeviceType=Desktop
8
UN Human Rights Committee (HRC), General comment no. 36, Article 6 (Right to Life), 3 September
2019, CCPR/C/GC/35, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5e5e75e04.html
9
Constitution of Iran, Article 35, https://irandataportal.syr.edu/wp-content/uploads/constitution-english-1368.pdf, (English
translation)
10
Family protection law, Article 5.
11
Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 5, https://bit.ly/2T0Sgja
7
2