Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions A/HRC/14/24/Add.1
para 382
Full recommendation:
I therefore again urge your Excellency’s Government to expeditiously lift or commute the death
sentences imposed against Mr. Abu Moslem Sohrabi, as well as all other persons awaiting
execution for offences committed before they reached age 18. All other efforts undertaken by
your Government to prevent these executions are insufficient to meet its obligations under
international treaties it is a Party to.
Assessment drafted using Impact Iran indicators1
A. Expeditiously lift or commute the death sentences imposed against Mr. Abu Moslem
Sohrabi
In December 2001, Abu Moslem Sohrabi, then a 17-year-old, stabbed a 25-year-old man to
death.2 Abu claims the act was an-act of self defence and that the other party raped him on
numerous occasions and was harassing him at the time of the incident.
Abu moslem Sohrabi was tried by Branch 3 of the Revolutionary Court in Firouzabad and
sentenced to death as a qesas3 penalty. However, in a letter to the Supreme Court, the judge who
issued the original death sentence retracted his ruling in the light of evidence that the defendant
was a rape victim and acted in self-defense. In July 2008 Branch 33 of the Supreme Court in
Tehran ordered a review of the case but the death sentence was upheld. The current status of Mr.
Abu Moslem Sohrabi is unknown. The last known update on his case was registered in 2008 by
Amnesty International. The update states that Abumoslem Sohrabi’s execution order was
approved by the Supreme Court; the case was transferred to the Office of the Implementation of
Sentences.4 Despite the lack of information regarding Mr. Sohrabi’s case, it is not likely that his
sentence was lifted or commuted as no such announcement was made by the Iranian Judiciary.
B. Expeditiously life or commute the death sentences imposed against all other persons
awaiting execution for offences committed before they reached age 18
International law defines the age of criminal responsibility at 18 years and above; those below 18
years are considered to be juveniles.5 ICCPR’s article 6(5) states that the death sentence should
not be applied to crimes committed by persons under the age of eighteen.6 However, Iranian
1
CCPR.6.2.S.1; CCPR.6.2.P.1; CCPR.6.2.O.2;
Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran https://www.iranrights.org/library/document/825/iran-fear-ofimminent-execution-abumoslem-sohrabi
3
Qesas or 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
4
Amnesty International - https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/MDE13/025/2009/en/
5
https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx
6
ICCPR: https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/ccpr.aspx
2
1