Juvenile offender executed in Iran
Washington, 19 August (IranVNC)—Reza Hejazi was executed today in Iran’s central city of Esfahan, hours after it was announced that the 20-year-old’s execution had been postponed.
By: IranVNC
Published: Tuesday, August 19, 2008
16:00GMT—12:00PM/EST
IRAN – EXECUTIONS – JUVENILE OFFENDERS – HEJAZI
Washington, 19 August (IranVNC)—Reza Hejazi was executed today in Iran’s central city of Esfahan, hours after it was announced that the 20-year-old’s execution had been postponed.
Conflicting reports by Iranian media hours before the execution said that Iran’s Judiciary had postponed the hanging.
Hejazi was charged with murder at 15 years old after he was arrested along with a small group of people in a dispute that left another man dead in September 2004.
After Hejazi was transferred to solitary confinement yesterday, Judiciary officials told his family at 6:00PM to come to the prison in Esfahan, where officials informed them that Hejazi would be executed at 4:00AM on Tuesday, 19 August.
Mohammad Mostafaei, Hejazi’s attorney, told BBC Persian that he did not expect the execution to be carried out today, as the procedure was not in accordance with Iranian law.
Hejazi was sentenced to death by the Esfahan Public Court in November 2005 and Iran’s Supreme Court approved the sentence in June 2006. Under Iranian law, he should have been tried in a juvenile court, but he was not.
Additionally, Iran’s Islamic penal code says that the offender’s attorney must be notified of the scheduled execution 48 hours before it is carried out so that the defense attorney can be present.
But in Hejazi’s case, only his family was notified of the execution, and this notice came less than 24 hours before the scheduled time.
In a statement released last week, the Presidency of the Council of the European Union called on Iran to stay the executions of those who were convicted of crimes while under the age of 18.
Iran is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, both of which prohibit the execution of individuals who convicted crimes when they were minors.
Sources: BBC Persian, Radio Farda, Amir Kabir University student newsletter, Presidency of the European Union website
© IranVNC 2008. All rights reserved.
(Original article written in Persian.)