As reported earlier , Iran’s judiciary spokesman , Alireza Jamshidi in a news conference stated that the Iran’s judiciary has submitted a bill to the parliament to stop executions and life imprisonment of children below 18 years of age. The news conference was only a few days after the execution of another minor: Mohammad Mousavi. Direct approval of execution of yet another child by the head of judiciary, Ayatollah Sharudi seemed in contraction to the judiciary spokesperson news conference about their proposal to permanently stop child executions in Iran, therefore Nazanin Afshin-Jam and Stop Child Executions campaign made a series of inquiries about the validity of the judiciary’s claim.
After discussion of the subject with Iranian lawyers, Amnesty International and other resources , SCE campaign has concluded that the recent news conference was a distraction tactic by Iran’s judiciary. The judiciary has not submitted any new bills to the parliament and the bill that was being referred to is the same OLD bill that the SCE campaign had already discussed in its petition: “In the summer of 2006, the Iranian Parliament reportedly passed a bill establishing special courts for children and adolescents. However, it has not yet been approved by the Council of Guardians, which supervises Iran’s legislation to ensure conformity with Islamic principles. During the past four years, the Iranian authorities have reportedly been considering legislation to ban the death penalty for child offenders. Recent comments by a judiciary spokesperson indicates that the proposed law would only prohibit the death penalty for certain crimes, and not all crimes committed by children”
“ This comments by judiciary spokesperson was an attempt to defuse the recent international pressure by presenting an old and flawed drafted law as todays news.” a legal observer in Iran told SCE campaign.
The regime of Iran on one hand tells the foreign press that :”The judiciary must be considerate of children because unlike adults, children who have committed a crime, lack organized and established violence. Therefore we must have lenience to remove hard punishments from this age group.” They also claim to have submitted a bill where ”the punishment of execution and life imprisonment (for minors) has completely been eliminated.” but on the other hand they continue to approve and execute children. The execution of Mohammad Mousavi less than a month ago for an alleged crime at the age of 16 years is an clear proof to the lack of commitment to stop child executions, especially since according to Iran’s law such approval (Estizan) must have come directly by Ayatollah Sharudi who has in the past approved execution of many other children. Obviously if they truly opposed child execution with one executive order Ayatollah Shahroudi could put a stop to child execution until a bill to permanently ban child executions goes in effect.
Additionally , articles in the old unapproved bill which replaces the death penalty for child offenders with prison terms, does not extended to qisas and huddud cases. The judiciary spokesperson in 2006 had stated that “qisas” crimes (crimes which carry a sentence of ‘retribution’, for example murder) were a private, not a state matter. Most of the cases of the children that the SCE campaign is aware of are the ones where the sentence is qisas, which means under this bill, most of these children will still be executed!. Obviously we would welcome the passing of the law- it would be of huge importance in the recognition that juveniles should not be sentenced to death, but unless it has undergone major changes in revision and still excludes qisas, it would be of extremely limited scope- if indeed it were passed by the Iran’s Council of Guardians which supervises all proposed laws to comply with Islamic Sharia. However, as it would signal the recognition of the importance of prohibition of the death penalty for child offenders, our lobbying strategy would be for the extinction of the law to encompass qisas- arguing that the state does have a role in qisas cases, and it is not just a matter for the family of the victim. SCE campaign is awaiting the receipt of a copy if the bill which at that time we will give a more comprehensive view of its content. We also anticipate a comprehensive report by Amnesty International to be published soon, on the use of the death penalty against child offenders- current and previous cases, global picture including an analysis of domestic and international laws. As part of the report, there will be an analysis of the Iranian drafted law by Iranian judiciary.
SCE campaign reiterates its position as stated in its petition, demanding the Government of Islamic Regime in Iran to:
– Immediately halt executions and prevent any further application of such penalties against child offenders.
– Take immediate measures to permanently abolish the death penalty for all child offenders in accordance with Iran’s obligations as a state party to the ICCPR and the CRC.