Iran, Amnesty International warns: the execution of a boy who was a minor at the time of the crime is imminent

ROMA – From reliable sources, Amnesty International has learned that the Iranian authorities intend to carry out, on Monday 21 October in the city of Shiraz, the death sentence of Mohammad Reza Azizi, who is now 21 years old but who was a minor at the time of the murder of which he was found guilty. His death sentence and scheduled execution violate international law, which prohibits the use of capital punishment against persons who were minors at the time of the crime.

The “confession” during interrogations without a lawyer. Azizi was arrested in September 2020, when he was 17 years old, and sentenced to death on August 15, 2021. According to documents received by Amnesty Internationalthe trial judge relied solely on “confessions” made during interrogations by the accused, who was not assisted by any lawyer. The Supreme Court upheld the death sentence in November 2021. In July 2023, the request for a new trial was rejected. According to the Forensic Medicine Organization, a state institute that acts under the supervision of the judiciary, at the time of the crime Azizi had “the mental development and maturity” to understand his actions and the consequences that would follow. There is no information on how this conclusion was reached, except that the accused knew how to pronounce his name and surname.

Violations of international law. These “maturity assessments” by judges and doctors openly violate the rights of minors, putting them at risk of execution. Azizi’s execution had already been scheduled for 2024 but was then suspended. Amnesty International recalled that, as a state party to the International Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil Rights, Iran has the legal obligation to consider all persons under 18 years of age as minors and not to condemn them to the death penalty or life imprisonment. The human rights organization called on the United Nations as well as the European Union and member states to urgently intervene to save Azizi’s life.