(Image: iranhr)
An Iranian man, Mohammadreza Azizi, is scheduled to be executed on Sunday, October 21, at Shiraz (Adel Abad) Central Prison for a murder he committed when he was only 17 years old. The case has drawn widespread condemnation from human rights groups, who are calling on the international community to intervene and halt the execution, citing both the age of the offender and significant flaws in the judicial process.
Iran Human Rights (IHR), an organization working to end the use of the death penalty in Iran, has taken a strong stance against Azizi’s imminent execution. They emphasize that Iran’s decision to execute a person who was a minor at the time of their crime is a clear violation of international law. The United Nations has repeatedly condemned the execution of minors, including in its Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which Iran is a party.
“In addition to the illegality of issuing the death sentence for offenses committed under 18 based on international laws and Iran’s obligations, the judicial process of Mohammadreza Azizi has important flaws,” said IHRNGO Director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, underscoring the unfairness of the legal proceedings.
Azizi’s family is devastated by the looming execution. One of his relatives shared the family’s anguish with IHR: “Mohammadreza was recently transferred from the juvenile ward to Ward 10, and his lawyer has told his family that he is scheduled to be executed on Sunday.” The family has been clinging to hope that last-minute intervention may save his life, but the prospects seem grim.
According to his family and defense team, Azizi acted in self-defense during the incident that led to his death sentence. “Mohammadreza pulled out a knife in self-defense after he was stabbed in the thigh,” a family member explained. “But the court dismissed self-defense and issued the death sentence. Two eyewitnesses that the defense had introduced weren’t even called to testify in court.”
Iran remains one of the few countries in the world that still executes individuals who were minors at the time of their crimes. The shortlist of countries that have allowed such executions includes Iran, China, Pakistan, Yemen, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, the United States, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
So far in 2024, Iran has already executed one minor offender. According to IHR, between 2016 and 2023, Iran commuted 21 death sentences for juvenile offenders, but during that same period, the country executed 31 individuals who had committed crimes as minors. The most recent case occurred just last month when Mehdi Jahanpour was executed on September 16 in the same prison where Azizi is now scheduled to face the same fate.
International law is clear on the issue of executing minors. The Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Iran is a signatory, explicitly states that “Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offenses committed by persons below eighteen years of age.” Yet, Iran continues to defy this convention.
Under Iran’s Islamic Penal Code, which was adopted in 2013, the age of criminal responsibility is determined by Sharia Law. This means girls can be held criminally responsible as young as 9 years old, and boys as young as 15. Crimes that carry the death penalty under this code include “crimes against God” such as apostasy and blasphemy, and “retribution crimes,” including murder.
As the clock ticks toward Sunday, the international community is being urged to take action to prevent the execution of Mohammadreza Azizi. His case highlights not only the injustices of Iran’s legal system but also the continued violation of the rights of minors in the country. The hope remains that pressure from global human rights organizations can save Azizi from a fate that should have never been on the table in the first place.
