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
to be issued. Article 146 of the Islamic Penal Code of 2013 establishes that people who are not
considered mature are not responsible for any crimes, while Article 147 says that the age of
maturity for girls is 9 years and for boys it is 15 years. The age of criminal responsibility in the
law6 specifies that those who commit crimes will be subject to the penalties specified in the law.
This includes all crimes that are subject to death penalty in Iran, including murder, qisas
(retaliation)7, organized crime, sodomy, adultery, and moharebeh (waging war with God)8.
In the revised Islamic Penal Code of 2013, the Islamic Republic tried to restrict the possibility of
issuing death sentences for those who are under the age of 18. Article 91 of the IPC gives the
courts the ability to ascertain whether the defendant had been “completely mature” and did not
know the "nature of the crime" at the time of committing it. This would allow for the use of
alternative punishments such as imprisonment instead of the death penalty. The note of this
article specifies that, at the discretion of the judge, the courts “can” seek a medical expert’s
opinion from a "Legal Medical Organization" in order to decide on the maturity of the individual
at the time of committing the crime.
In practice, these amendments to the Islamic Penal Code have not prevented the issuance of
execution sentences for juveniles. In recent years, there have been many reports that courts have
been selective in applying this article and its note.9 There were cases where, despite forensic
reports confirming that the defendant was not “fully mature” at the time of the crime, the judge
decided that the accused individual(s) were mature and the language of Article 91 did not apply
to them, as they had previously been charged for criminal activities (e.g., robbery). In general,
the current law permits the issuance of death penalty sentences for those under the age of 18, and
the reforms introduced by the Islamic Penal Code have not been able to remove this type of
punishment from legislation.
Iran's justification for juvenile executions is that they do not execute any juveniles before the age
of 18. That is, under existing law, if a person under the age of 18 commits a crime punishable by
death, the death sentence will continue to be imposed on the juvenile offender after a court
hearing, but the execution of death penalty will be suspended until the offender reaches the age
5
https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx
Article 147 of the Islamic Penal Code.
7
Qisas refers to retaliation punishments such as, if a person cuts off someone else’s finger, the victim may inflict the same
punishment onto the perpetrator.
8
Article 279 of the Islamic Penal Code states: “Moharebeh is defined as drawing a weapon on the life, property or chastity of
people or to cause terror as it creates the atmosphere of insecurity.”
9
https://www.amnestyusa.org/press-releases/irans-hypocrisy-exposed-as-scores-of-juvenile-offenders-condemned-to-gallows/
6
2