Asieh Amini

The execution of a juvenile sentenced to death in the city of Kazeroon, Iran’s Fars province was ‎halted at the request of several human rights activists. ‎

Mohammad Reza Haddadi was a juvenile offender who had been sentenced to death in ‎Kazeroon, Fars, and based on reports was scheduled to be executed on October 9 despite protests ‎by human rights and children's rights activists. Yesterday evening the execution was halted. ‎Meanwhile, however, the supreme court denied an appeals request from a Firoozabadi boy by the ‎name of Abumoslem Sohrabi, who is also held at Fars province's Adel Abad Prison. ‎

Confirming cited reports, Mohammad Reza Haddadi's attorney, Mohammad Mostafaei, told ‎Rooz, "The exact time of the execution was not communicated to me and I only heard from my ‎client that he was scheduled to be executed on October 9. In the past couple of days, all efforts ‎were focused on halting the execution and fortunately today, on the eve of the International ‎Children's Day, the execution was halted." ‎

The Mothers for Peace organization presented a letter yesterday to the head of judiciary's office ‎protesting the court sentence. Khadijeh Moghaddam, member of the Mothers for Peace ‎organization, told Rooz, "In the letter, copies of which were forwarded to the judiciary's ‎spokesperson, the Commission on the Rights of Children and Juveniles, and the Judiciary ‎Oversight office, while explaining the case of Mohammad Reza Haddadi and requesting a new ‎trial because he really was not the murderer, we reminded our country's commitment to Article ‎‎37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and called for halting the execution of juveniles, ‎because tomorrow will be too late for that." ‎

Citing the arrival of the International Children's Rights day, Khadijeh Moghaddam identified this ‎day as the best day for the call "to halt the execution of children and juveniles" to become a ‎public demand. ‎

Mohammad Reza Haddadi is a juvenile who received the death penalty at the age of fifteen after ‎he confessed to murdering Mohammad Bagher Rahmat. His confession was later denied by both ‎him and his co-defendants and it became apparent that he, who is struggling with poverty, was ‎enticed into this confession by his co-defendants. The court, however, did not accept his ‎arguments and issued the death penalty. ‎

At the same time, Abumoslem Sohrabi's attorney, Gholamhossein Raeisi, announced the ‎supreme court's refusal to grant the appeals request of Abumoslem Sohrabi. As such, the threat ‎of execution is still present in the case of this juvenile offender. Raeisi talked to Rooz about his ‎client's case in these words: "In the criminal justice system, the third branch of the Firoozabad ‎trial court, which has jurisdiction over juvenile matters, following the murder, although ‎Abumoslem claims that he was sexually abused by the victim and the victim continued to come ‎to him and his choices were either to submit to the advances or get rid of him in a way and his ‎youthful pride pushed him toward murder, the court did not accept his defense and issued the ‎death penalty for him. Branch 33 of the supreme court upheld the verdict. However, the initial ‎judge in the case has recently announced in a note that his sentence was incorrect and reiterated ‎that while he had asked for a retrial, branch 33 of the supreme court had denied his request. ‎Despite the fact that there is serious doubt in the premeditation of the murder and Abumoslem ‎who had not yet turned 18 at the time of the murder, he is on the brink of execution." ‎