The law on the “Protection of Children and Adolescents”,26 adopted in June 2020, provides alternative punishments for persons under the age of 18, except for crimes under qisas and hudud, where the Islamic Penal Code sentences prevails.27 In qisas cases, the pardon or commutation of the sentence is based solely on the request of the victim or the victim’s guardian, which deprives the child defendant of his or her right to seek pardon or commutation from the State.28 There are a number of institutions that can intervene to mediate cases of children sentenced with qisas, notably in order to commute qisas 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. 29 There is no readily available information that would indicate the number of cases received, reviewed and adjudicated by these institutions. Additionally, Article 91 of the 2013 Islamic Penal Code allows judges to pronounce alternative sentences in circumstances where the juveniles “do not realize the nature of the crime committed or its prohibition, or if there is uncertainty about their full mental development, according to their age”.30 The Article further adds that “the court may ask the opinion of forensic medicine or resort to any other method that it sees appropriate in order to establish the full mental development”. In 2017, a number of special procedure mandate holders described 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”.31 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”.32 In his 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 26 The law adopted on May 12, 2020 : < https://shenasname.ir/laws/6788 > Article 25 of the law of “Protection of Children and Adolescents”. 28 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 29 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 30 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/ 31 See OHCHR News, www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=21547&LangID=E 32 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 27 5