In cases regarding qisas, the pardon or commutation of the sentence is based solely on the
request of the victim or the victim’s guardian. This deprives the child defendant of his or her
right to seek pardon or commutation of the sentence by the State.7 There are a number of
institutions that can intervene in order to mediate cases of children sentenced through qisas. This
mediation is notably used to convert qisas sentences into diya sentences (blood money). These
institutions include a reconciliation commission, a working group tasked to support mediation
with the victim’s next of kin, conflict resolution council branches and the Women and Children
and Protection Office of the Judiciary. 8 There is no readily available information that would
indicate the number of cases received, reviewed and adjudicated by these institutions.
Article 91 of the Islamic Penal Code, revised in 2013, allows 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”.9 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]”. 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”.10 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”.11
Over the years, several executions of child offenders have been commuted in Iran, however,
these reports are rare.12
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”.13
7
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
Ibid.
9
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/
10
See OHCHR News, www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=21547&LangID=E
11
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
12
For more, please see: Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran https://www.iranrights.org/projects/omidmap
13
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
2