Peyvast

Here is a full draft of an article that I wrote which partially was used in the joint FPC/SCE report titled: From Cradle to Coffin, Child Executions in Iran.
 

“Consequently, all of the death sentences issued by the respectful members of the judiciary for crimes committed prior to attaining the age of 18 years,  are in violation of Sharia law and should be reversed. 

Mohamamd Mostafaei, Children Rights attorney representing more than 20 juveniles facing execution

“Consequently, all of the death sentences issued by the respectful members of the judiciary for crimes committed prior to attaining the age of 18 years,  are in violation of Sharia law and should be reversed. 

Mohamamd Mostafaei, Children Rights attorney representing more than 20 juveniles facing execution 

 

Child execution is not only in violation of United Nations conventions but it also violates Iran’s own law:

·         Article 37 of Constitution of the Islamic Republic states : “International treaties, protocols, contracts, and agreements must be approved by the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Parliament).” (http://www.iranchamber.com/government/laws/constitution_ch06.php) 

·         Iranian Parliament committed to the United Nations Conventions on the Right of the Child (CRC) and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCP) on following dates (note all approvals after 1979 were by the parliament of the Islamic Republic):

o   CCPR-International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: 31/12/94, 21/03/83,  12/05/92  , 22/02/77, 02/04/82

o   CRC-Convention on the Rights of the Child: 11/08/2001 , 16/07/2002,  11/08/96, 09/12/97, 05/09/91, 12/08/94, 01/09/1994

·         Guardian Council on January 24, 1994 determined that the Convention on the Rights of the Child is compatible with Islam with the following exceptions:

o   item1-article12

o   items1, 3 - article 13

o   items 1, 3- article14

o   item 2 - article 15

o   item 1-article16

o   item 1-article29

o   Item 37 of CRC which prohibits child execution was NOT excluded.

o   (ref: Mohammad Mostafaei: http://schrr.net/spip.php?article2531) 

·         Article 96 of the constitution of the Islamic Republic stipulates: “The determination of compatibility of the legislation passed by the Islamic Consultative Assembly (parliament) with the laws of Islam rests with the majority vote of the fuqaha’ on the Guardian Council; and the determination of its compatibility with the Constitution rests with the majority of all the members of the Guardian Council.”  (http://www.iranchamber.com/government/laws/constitution_ch06.php

On 24 of September 2007 I drafted a letter addressed to the head of the judiciary and respectfully asked him to order a halt to carrying of the execution of those who have committed a crime before the age of 18 until the finalization of the draft law regarding the crimes of children and teenagers, which has been submitted to the parliament in February of 2004 and to date has been set aside. I have not yet received any reply to my letter. Mohammad Mostafaei: Letter to Iran Iran Parliament  (http://scenews.blog.com/2412467/) 

·         Article 9 of Iran’s civil Islamic Republic states that  “Treaty stipulations which have been, in accordance with the Constitutional Law, concluded between the Iranian Government and other government, shall have the force of law”. http://www.alaviandassociates.com/documents/civilcode.pdf 

·         On May 8, 2006, in a letter to United Nations, the government of Islamic Republic again confirmed its commitment to both CRC and ICCRP conventions http://www.un.org/ga/60/elect/hrc/iran.pdf 

·         According to Article 49 of the Islamic Penal Code approved in 1991 states that minors, if found guilty, are free from criminal responsibility. Note 1 of Article 49 stipulates that minors are those individuals who have not reached what Islam considers to be the age of discretion.  However nowhere in the Islamic Sharia Penal Code or other existing laws has there has been a reference to the age of the penal responsibility of a child. Lawmakers have only referenced to Sharia Hadd (death sentence) without stating the age. 

·         The 1991 Amendment of Article 1210 (1) of the Iranian Civil Code declares that the Islamic age of discretion is 15 full lunar years of age for boys and 9 full lunar years of age for girls. (14 years and 7 months for boys and 8 years and 9 months for girls) 

·         Article 1210 Note 2 states “The properties which had belonged to a minor who has now reached the age of majority may be given to him only if it has been proved that he has full legal capacity.”  (Mostafaei: http://schrr.net/spip.php?article2531and Ali Najafi Tavana  http://scenews.blog.com/3100731) 

·         In 2003, Head of Iran’s Judiciary, Ayatollah Shahroudi issued a circular letter to all judges asking them to stop issuing death sentences on the under-18 people.

“All divine faiths and legal schools exempt children from facing persecutions that adults do… so, today international conventions frown on the execution of under-eighteen-year-olds as the harshest of all punishments…. When the Holy Quran encourages us to forgive even those who have intentionally committed murder, then undoubtedly, Islam welcomes the gift of life for under-18-year-olds”

From an statement issued by a group of Iranian experts including Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi and 2009 presidential candidate and former head of Parliament Ayatollah Karoubi.

·         “Note to Article 220 of the Criminal Investigation Procedure of 1999 stipulates that all offences committed by the under-18 persons shall be investigated by the Juveniles Court according to general regulations. Under Article 230[1] of the Law on Investigation Procedure of General and Revolution Courts, the Juveniles Court has jurisdiction to investigate all offences committed by children. Article 219 of the Law on Investigation Procedure of General and Revolution Courts for Penal Affairs approved on 19th September 1999 has provided for a branch or branches of the General Courts to investigate offences committed by children.” (ref. Emad Baghi)

Child Right Attorney Mohammad Mostafaei who has represented more than 30 juveniles on death row states: ”Based on the principal of the “definitions to the benefit of the accused” within the criminal matters, one cannot refer to civil laws when defining penal codes, and the (penal) laws must be specifically defined. There is a difference of opinion among experts regarding the age of penal responsibility and no specific age has been determined to be the age at which child becomes criminally responsible…..With a detailed attention to the laws and rules of our country pertaining to the execution of the children under the age of 18, we can conclude that issuing death sentence for children who have committed a crime before the age of 18 is against the strict law of Iran”.

Islamic Republic of Iran currently does not have a universal definition of the child and applies different ages to different legal matters. Some of the examples of age requirements are:

·         Passport                                   18

·         National service                      18

·         Driving                                    18

·         Employment                            18   (15 to 18 conditional)

·         Real Estate Transactions:        18

·         Opening Bank Account          18

·         Opening a Company               18

·         Personal Property Transfer      18

·         Voting                                     15

·         Marriage- boy                          15

·         Marriage- girl                          13

·         Death Penalty- Boy               15 lunar age

·         Death Penalty- Girl               9 lunar age

 

“I am pleading to you, the representatives of people, that considering the importance and urgency of this matter; to take all the required measures such that this draft law abolishing the death penalty for children under 18, be presented as soon as possible in the open session of the parliament and to be passed so that we no longer witness to the execution of children who unintentionally or unknowingly may have committed a crime”.

Mohammad Mostafaei – letter to Iran Parliament http://scenews.blog.com/2412467/

 

In February 2005, Iran’s judiciary submitted a bill to the government of former president Khatami addressing the crime investigation of Juveniles which was subsequently
submitted to the 7^th parliament of the Islamic Republic. After review the bill was

recommended for approved in August of 2006 and sent to a parliamentary committee and to date it has not been approved nor submitted to the Guardian Council for review. Among other measures the bill prohibits issuing death penalty to juveniles who have committed a crime before the age of 18, however it excludes the ruling from Ghesas cases where victim’s family maintain the right to request execution, ask for blood money retribution or forgive the alleged juvenile.

In June 2007 , Judiciary spokesperson Alireza Jamshidi stated: “Approval of this bills will serve an important role in organization of the children’s penal laws in direction of scientific standards. Fundamentally the necessarily of approval of this bill is not hidden to the experts” (ref. Etemaad Newspaper).

However more than four years after its introduction, due to pressure by extremists and the Guardian Council the bill has not yet been approved and 140 Iranian juveniles await execution while …….. have already been executed since the introduction of the bill.