Behnoud Shojaee (m), aged 20, child offender
The execution of juvenile offender, Behnoud Shojaee, which was
scheduled to take place on 7 May, has been stayed for a month on
order of the Head of the Judiciary. This is to allow Behnoud
Shojaee to seek a pardon from the family of the boy he was
convicted of fatally stabbing on 18 June 2005, and to allow the
two families to reach a financial settlement. Should an agreement
not be made, Behnoud Shojaee remains at risk of being executed.
Behnoud Shojaee, then aged 17, intervened to stop a fight
between a friend and another boy named Omid in a park in Tehran.
The boy then started a fight with Behnoud Shojaee and threatened
him with a knife. During the fight Behnoud Shojaee picked a shard
of glass and stabbed Omid once in the chest, before fleeing the
scene.
Behnoud Shojaee was sentenced to qesas (retribution) by Branch
74 of the Criminal Court in Tehran on 2 October 2006. During his
trial, Behnoud Shojaee was not afforded legal representation and
was therefore made to write a request for re-examination and
re-trial of his case himself. According to his lawyer who recently
took up his case, Behnoud Shojaee maintained throughout his trial
that he only stabbed Omid once even though the coroner’s report
stated that the victim died as a result of sustaining several
injuries. His claims were never investigated and Behnoud Shojaee’s
sentence was nevertheless confirmed by Branch 33 of the Supreme
Court on 30 June 2007.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
As a state party to both the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of
the Child (CRC), Iran has undertaken not to execute juvenile
offenders, those convicted of crimes committed when they were
under 18. However, since 1990 Iran has executed at least 28
juvenile offenders, six of them in 2007. At least 84 juvenile
offenders are now on death row in Iran. This number may be even
higher as at least a further 15 Afghan juvenile offenders have
reportedly been sentenced to death. For more information about
executions of juvenile offenders in Iran, please see: Iran: The
last executioner of children (MDE 13/059/2007, June 2007),
http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engmde130592007.
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases,
and supports the global trend away from the use of the death
penalty, powerfully expressed in the UN General Assembly’s
resolution calling for a worldwide moratorium on executions on 18
December 2007.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly
as possible, in Persian, Arabic, English or your own language:
- welcoming the stay of execution of Behnoud Shojaee;
- calling on the authorities to commute the death sentence of
Behnoud Shojaee, who remains at risk of execution for a crime
committed when he was under 18 and the death sentences of all
juvenile offenders sentenced to death in Iran;
- acknowledging that governments have a right and
responsibility to bring to justice those suspected of criminal
offences in proceedings that meet international standards for
fair trial, but pointing out that the death penalty is the
ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment;
- calling on the authorities to pass, as a matter of urgency,
legislation abolishing the death penalty for all offences
committed by those under 18, in accordance with Iran’s
obligations as a state party to the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of
the Child.
APPEALS TO:
Leader of the Islamic Republic
His Excellency
Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei
The Office of the Supreme
Leader
Islamic Republic Street - Shahid Keshvar Doust
Street
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email:
info@leader.ir
Salutation: Your Excellency
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:
info@dadgostary-tehran.ir (In the subject line write: FAO
Ayatollah Shahroudi)
Salutation: Your Excellency
COPIES TO:
President
His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The
Presidency, Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection, Tehran,
Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: dr-ahmadinejad@president.ir OR via
website: www.president.ir/email
Botschaft der Islamischen Republik Iran
S.E. Herrn Mohammad
Mehdi Akhondzadeh Basti
Podbielskiallee 65-67, 14195 Berlin
Telefax: 030-8435 3535
E-Mail: iran.botschaft@t-online.de
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the
International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending
appeals after 19 June 2008.