Juvenile offender Mohammad Reza Haddadi, who was scheduled to be executed on 9 October 2008, has had his execution postponed. The spokesperson of the judiciary told the press at his weekly press conference on 7 October that Haddadi’s death sentence had been confirmed, but his execution had been halted. He did not give a new execution date.
Iman Hashemi was pardoned in September by the family of the man he was convicted of killing, and is now free.
Mohammad Reza Haddadi is held in Adelabad prison in the city of Shiraz. He was sentenced to death in January 2004 for a murder committed in 2003, when he was 15. He had confessed to the murder, but retracted the confession during his trial, saying he had claimed responsibility for the killing only because his two co-defendants had offered to give his family money if he did so. He said during the trial that he had not taken part in the murder. His co-defendants later supported Mohammad Reza Haddadi’s claims of innocence, and withdrew their testimony that had implicated him in the murder. They were both over 18 at the time of the crime and received prison sentences.
There is no further news on Naser Qasemi, who was sentenced to death for a crime committed when he was 15.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Iran is a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), both of which expressly prohibit the use of the death penalty against anyone convicted of a crime committed when they were under 18. However, since 1990 Iran has executed at least 37 juvenile offenders, eight of them in 2007 and six in 2008.
In Iran a convicted murderer has no right to seek pardon or commutation from the state, though this right is protected by Article 6(4) ICCPR. The family of a murder victim has the right either to insist on execution, or to pardon the killer and receive financial compensation.
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Iman Hashemi was pardoned in September by the family of the man he was convicted of killing, and is now free.
Mohammad Reza Haddadi is held in Adelabad prison in the city of Shiraz. He was sentenced to death in January 2004 for a murder committed in 2003, when he was 15. He had confessed to the murder, but retracted the confession during his trial, saying he had claimed responsibility for the killing only because his two co-defendants had offered to give his family money if he did so. He said during the trial that he had not taken part in the murder. His co-defendants later supported Mohammad Reza Haddadi’s claims of innocence, and withdrew their testimony that had implicated him in the murder. They were both over 18 at the time of the crime and received prison sentences.
There is no further news on Naser Qasemi, who was sentenced to death for a crime committed when he was 15.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Iran is a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), both of which expressly prohibit the use of the death penalty against anyone convicted of a crime committed when they were under 18. However, since 1990 Iran has executed at least 37 juvenile offenders, eight of them in 2007 and six in 2008.
In Iran a convicted murderer has no right to seek pardon or commutation from the state, though this right is protected by Article 6(4) ICCPR. The family of a murder victim has the right either to insist on execution, or to pardon the killer and receive financial compensation.
Click here for action.
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