URGENT ACTION

iranian JUVENILE faces execution on 16 JULY

The execution of 20-year-old Mohammad Reza Haddadi has been scheduled in the city of Shiraz, southern Iran, on 16 July. He has been sentenced to death for a crime he allegedly committed while under the age of 18. This is the third time his execution has been scheduled.

On 27 May, the Head of the Judiciary had halted the execution of Mohammad Reza Haddadi, which was scheduled to take place that day in Adelabad prison in Shiraz. The Head of the Judiciary had ordered Branch 17 of the Supreme Court to conduct a review of the case. However, in an interview with the Iranian daily newspaper Sarmayeh, Mohammad Reza Haddadi’s brother said that since the review was ordered, although no trial sessions have been held, the execution was nevertheless scheduled for 16 July.

Mohammad Reza Haddadi was sentenced to death in 2004 for a murder he allegedly committed when he was 15. He confessed to the murder, but retracted the confession during his trial, saying he had claimed responsibility for the killing only because his two co-defendants had offered to give his family money if he did so. During the trial he said that he had not taken part in the murder. His co-defendants later supported Mohammad Reza Haddadi's claims of innocence, and withdrew their testimony that had implicated him. They were both over 18 at the time of the crime and received prison sentences. Mohammad Reza Haddadi’s death sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court in July 2005. He was first scheduled for execution in October 2008, but it was stayed on the order of the Head of the Judiciary.

PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in Persian, Arabic, English, French or your own language:

• calling on the Iranian authorities to halt the execution of Mohammad Reza Haddadi immediately, and commute his death sentence;

• reminding the authorities that Iran is a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which prohibit the use of the death penalty against people convicted of crimes committed when they were under 18.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 16 JULY 2009 TO:

Leader of the Islamic Republic

Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei, The Office of the Supreme Leader

Islamic Republic Street – End of Shahid Keshvar Doust Street

Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Email: info_leader@leader.ir

via website: http://www.leader.ir/langs/en/index.php?p=letter (English)

http://www.leader.ir/langs/fa/index.php?p=letter(Persian)

Salutation: Your Excellency

Head of the Judiciary

Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi

c/o Director, Judiciary Public Relations and Information Office

Ardeshir Sadiq

Judiciary Public Relations and Information Office

No. 57, Pasteur St.,

corner of Khosh Zaban Avenue

Tehran, Iran

Email: info@dadiran.ir (In the subject line write: FAO Ayatollah Shahroudi)

Salutation: Your Excellency

And copies to:

Judiciary spokesperson

Alireza Jamshidi

Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh / Office of the Head of the Judiciary

Pasteur St, Vali Asr Ave., south of Serah-e Jomhuri

Tehran 1316814737, Iran

Email: info@a-jamshidi.ir

Salutation: Dear Sir

Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.

This is the fifth update of UA: 71/08 (MDE 13/049/2008)

Further information: www.amnesty.org/en/ai_search?keywords=

UA+71%2F08&op=Search&form_id=search_theme_form&form_token=c3b2158862cb6ba2486d118e4682247f

URGENT ACTION

IRANIAN JUVENILE FACES EXECUTION ON 16 JULY

ADditional Information

Amnesty International has no further news on the separate case of Naser Qasemi, who was also sentenced to death for a crime committed when he was 15.

Since 1990 Iran has executed at least 44 people convicted of crimes that they allegedly committed when they were under 18. Eight of these executions were in 2008 and three in 2009.

The execution of juvenile offenders is prohibited under international law, as stated in Article 6(5) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), to which Iran is a state party, and so has undertaken not to execute anyone for crimes committed when they were under 18.

In Iran a person convicted of murder has no right to seek pardon or commutation from the state, in violation of Article 6(4) of the ICCPR. The family of a murder victim have the right either to insist on execution, or to pardon the killer and receive financial compensation (diyeh).

For more information about executions of juveniles in Iran, please see Iran: The last executioner of children (Index: MDE 13/059/2007), June 2007, (http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engmde130592007).

Further information on UA: 71/08 Index: MDE 13/070/2009 Issue Date: 10 July 2009