AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Public
Statement
AI Index: MDE 13/122/2008
19 August 2008
Iran: Amnesty
International condemns the execution of juvenile offender Reza Hejazi
Amnesty International unreservedly
condemns the execution today 19 August 2008, at 11am of Reza Hejazi, for a crime he committed when he was below 18 years
old. Reza Hejazi was hanged in Esfahan central prison
following his conviction for the murder, then aged about 15. His lawyer was not
informed that his execution was to be carried out, though under Iranian law a
48 hour notification period is required. Amnesty International calls for the
Iranian Judiciary to halt all executions of juvenile offenders and the Iranian
government to ban all such executions in line with international law.
Reza Hejazi's family were notified that he had been transferred
to a cell for those to be executed within 24 hours, and they informed his
lawyer, Mohammad Mostafaei. The lawyer reached Esfahan prison at 4.30am, and attempted to
find out when the execution was to be carried out. Prison guards informed him
that executions normally took place between 7 and 8am. After attempting for
several hours to secure a stay of execution, at around 10am Mohammad Mostafaei was told by the officer supervising executions
that Reza Hejazi’s execution had been halted. He set
off back to his office in the capital, Tehran, a five-hour journey
away. While he was travelling, he was informed that Reza Hejazi
was hanged at 11am.
Juvenile offender,
Reza Hejazi - then aged 15 - was among a small group
of people involved in a dispute with a man on 18 September 2004, which resulted in
the man being fatally stabbed. Reza Hejazi was
arrested and tried for murder, and on 14 November 2005 he was sentenced to qesas (retribution) by Branch 106 of the Esfahan General
Court. The sentence was approved by Branch 28 of the Supreme Court in Mashhad on 6 June 2006, although under Iranian law he should have been tried in a
juvenile court.
The execution of juvenile offenders is prohibited
under international law, as stated in Article 6 (5) of the ICCPR and the
Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), of which Iran is a state party to and so has undertaken not to
execute anyone for crimes committed when they were under
18.
Since 1990 Iran has executed at least 36 juvenile offenders,
including eight in 2007. The execution today of Reza Hejazi
brings the number of juvenile executions to five so far in 2008. No other
country is known to have executed a juvenile offender in 2008.
The situation of
juvenile offenders facing execution in Iran has reached crisis
levels, with at least 132 juvenile offenders known to be on death row in Iran, although the true
number could be much higher.
The organization urges
the Iranian authorities to immediately stop sentencing juvenile offenders to
death and commute the sentences of these on death row.
See for further
information Urgent Action: UA 71/08, AI Index: MDE 13/049/2008, 13 March 2008 Fear of execution; http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/049/2008
Press release Iran: End Execution of
Juvenile Offenders, published on 29 July 2008;
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/103/2008/en
Press release Iran: Spare four youths
from execution, immediately enforce international prohibition on death penalty
for juvenile offenders, published on 8 July 2008
http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/iran-spare-four-youths-execution-immediately-enforce-international-prohi
ENDS…/
For more
information please call Amnesty International’s press office in London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566 or
visit our website at http://www.amnesty.org