PUBLIC                                                                                                        AI Index:  MDE 13/051/2009                    

                                                                                                                                           29 May 2009

 

UA 136/09           Fear of imminent execution                                     

 

IRAN                    Mehdi Mazroui (m), 24, alleged juvenile offender

 

Mehdi Mazroui is said to be at imminent risk of execution for a crime he is alleged to have committed when he was 17 years old. He was moved to a solitary cell in Dastgerd prison in Esfahan, Iran, on the morning of 29 May 2009, a step the Iranian authorities often take prior to execution.

 

Mehdi Mazroui was arrested in 2002 after a fight in which one person was killed, and sentenced to qesas-e nafs, or retribution, by a lower court in Esfahan in 2005. Details of the trial are not known. He confessed to the killing after alleged torture during which he was beaten, his hand was broken, his shoulder was dislocated and fingernails were removed. A high court in Tehran subsequently ordered the review of his sentence and returned the case to a different lower court in Esfahan for a retrial. The lower court again sentenced him to qesas-e nafs and this was confirmed by the Supreme Court in February 2009. The verdict is said to have been communicated to the relevant authorities for implementation.

 

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Iran has executed at least 45 alleged juvenile offenders since 1990, eight of them in 2008 and at least two in 2009.

 

The execution of juvenile offenders is prohibited under international law, as stated in Article 6(5) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), to which Iran is a state party, and so has undertaken not to execute anyone for crimes committed when they were under 18.

 

In Iran a person convicted of murder has no right to seek pardon or commutation from the state, in violation of Article 6(4) of the ICCPR. The family of a murder victim have the right either to insist on execution, or to pardon the killer and receive financial compensation (diyeh).

 

For more information about executions of juvenile offenders in Iran, please see Iran: The last executioner of children (Index: MDE 13/059/2007), June 2007, (http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engmde130592007).

 

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Persian, Arabic, English or your own language:

– expressing great concern at reports that Mehdi Mazroui may be at imminent risk of execution for a crime he allegedly committed when he was under 18;

– calling for re-trial of the case in proceedings meeting international standards for fair trial and in line with the Convention of the Rights of the Child, to which Iran is a state party:

– urging the Iranian authorities to commute his death sentence;

– reminding the authorities that 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), which prohibit the use of the death penalty against people convicted of crimes committed when they were under 18.

 

APPEALS TO:

Head of the Judiciary

Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi

Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh (Office of the Head of the Judiciary)

Pasteur St., Vali Asr Ave., south of Serah-e Jomhouri

Tehran 1316814737, Islamic Republic of Iran

Email:               shahroudi@dadgostary-tehran.ir (In the subject line write: FAO Ayatollah Shahroudi)

Salutation:       Your Excellency

 

Leader of the Islamic Republic

Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei, The Office of the Supreme Leader

Islamic Republic Street – End of Shahid Keshvar Doust Street, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Email:               info_leader@leader.ir

via website: http://www.leader.ir/langs/en/index.php?p=letter (English)

http://www.leader.ir/langs/fa/index.php?p=letter(Persian)

Salutation:       Your Excellency

 

COPIES TO:

Director, Human Rights Headquarters of Iran

Mohammad Javad Larijani

Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh / Office of the Head of the Judiciary

Pasteur St, Vali Asr Ave., south of Serah-e Jomhuri

Tehran 1316814737, Iran

Fax:                 +98 21 3390 4986 (please keep trying)

Email:               info@dadgostary-tehran.ir (In the subject line write: FAO Javad Larijani)

Salutation:       Dear Mr Larijani

 

and to diplomatic representatives of Iran accredited to your country.

 

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 10 July 2009.