Iran: authorities set to execute child offender contrary to international law
Mohammad Reza Azizi is due to be executed in the city of Shiraz on Monday
Arrested as a 17-year-old, his execution would violate international law
‘The international community, including UN bodies and the EU and its member states, must urgently intervene to save this young man’s life’ - Sara Hashash
The Iranian authorities must stop the imminent scheduled execution of Mohammad Reza Azizi, a 21-year-old man who was a 17-year-old child at the time of his alleged offence.
Amnesty International has learned that the Iranian authorities plan to carry out his execution on Monday (21 October) in the city of Shiraz in Fars province.
His death sentence and planned execution contravene international law which strictly prohibits the imposition of the death penalty against people who were under 18 at the time of the alleged crime.
Mohammad Reza Azizi was arrested in September 2020 when he was 17 years old and was subsequently convicted of murder and sentenced to death by Branch 1 of Criminal Court One of Fars province on 15 August 2021.
According to legal documents reviewed by Amnesty, he was interrogated without a lawyer being present after his arrest and the court subsequently relied on supposed “confessions” to issue its verdict sentencing Mohammad Reza Azizi to death. The Iranian supreme court upheld his conviction and death sentence in November 2021, and a request for judicial review was rejected in July 2023.
According to legal documents reviewed by Amnesty, the Legal Medicine Organisation of Iran - a state forensic institute under the judiciary’s supervision - concluded that Mohammad Reza Azizi had attained “mental growth and maturity” at the time of the crime. The organisation didn’t provide an explanation of how it had reached this conclusion beyond noting he was able to name his first and last name.
Amnesty has repeatedly urged the Iranian authorities - including judges and doctors from the Legal Medicine Organisation of Iran - to halt these “maturity assessment” processes as they fundamentally violate children’s human rights and risk subjecting them to the death penalty. Instead, the authorities should adopt a position that treats all of those aged under 18 as less mature and culpable than adults, in accordance with international juvenile justice principles.
Mohammad Reza Azizi is currently held in Adel Abad prison in Shiraz in Fars province. According to information received by Amnesty, the Iranian authorities have previously scheduled his execution at least once previously this year.
As a state party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Iran is legally obliged to treat anyone under the age of 18 as a child and ensure they are never subjected to the death penalty or life imprisonment without the possibility of release.
Sara Hashash, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director, said:
“The planned execution of Mohammed Reza Azizi puts on full display the Iranian authorities’ cruelty. Their repeated flagrant disregard for the right to life is an abhorrent assault on children’s rights.
“Using the death penalty against someone who was a child at the time of the crime is prohibited under international human rights and customary law, and violates Iran’s international obligations.
“Mohammed Reza Azizi’s rights to a fair trial were violated, including by being interrogated without a lawyer and the court relying on his coerced ‘confessions’ as evidence to convict and sentence him to death.
“The Iranian authorities must immediately halt Mohammad Reza Azizi’s execution, quash his conviction and sentence, and grant him a fair retrial.
“The international community, including UN bodies and the EU and its member states, must urgently intervene to save this young man’s life.”