Iran Human Rights (September 5, 2019): Unofficial sources have informed Mehdi Khazaeian’s family that his execution will be carried out soon. Mehdi Khazaeian is a juvenile offender whose death sentence has been upheld by the Supreme Court and can be implemented at any time.
According to close sources, Mehdi Khazaeian’s family have been informed that he will be executed soon. Mehdi Khazaeian is charged for a murder allegedly committed at the age of 16. He is currently being held at the Correction and Rehabilitation Center of Gorgan.
Based on his identity documents, Mehdi was born on November 20, 1999. The alleged murder took place when he was 16 years old, in Gorgan on March 13, 2016. The relatives of the juvenile offender stated that he was in a gang fight leading to the murder of Amir Hossein B., 19, and it is not clear who delivered the fatal blow.
The verdict, a copy of which was received by IHR, mentions, “The forensic report indicates that “currently there’s no sign of mental disorder in the defendant and considering his statements about the incident and his total awareness of the situation, it seems that he was in a good mental health and wasn’t under the influence of alcohol and was mentally mature as of March 14, 2016 “
Eventually, Mehdi Khazaeian was sentenced to 80 lashes for the drinking of alcohol, three years in prison for participation in a gang fight, and qisas (retribution) death penalty for murder. The sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court.
Based on Article 91 of the new Islamic Penal Code, approved in 2013, judges can potentially deny issuing a death sentence for juveniles who do not understand the nature of their crime.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Iran has ratified, clearly bans execution and life imprisonment of juveniles.
It’s worth mentioning that currently a sum of money is being collected in order to win the consent of the plaintiffs. Since the juvenile offender couldn’t choose a lawyer during his arrest and the proceeding of his case, Iran Human Rights invites human rights lawyers who are willing to voluntarily handle the cases of juvenile offenders to help this death-row prisoner.
Since the beginning of 2019, at least two juvenile offenders have been executed in Iran.