Commenting on reports about the imminent execution of the young Iranian Peyman Barandah, Bärbel Kofler, Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid at the Federal Foreign Office, issued the following statement today (28 April):
I am extremely concerned about the imminent execution of the young Iranian Peyman Barandah scheduled for 10 May 2017.
Peyman Barandah was only 15 years old at the time of the crime he is accused of having committed. There are serious doubts as to whether due process standards were complied with in the proceedings against him. Three applications for a new trial due to changes to Iranian juvenile criminal law have been rejected without any reasons being stated.
Both the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – both of which have been ratified by Iran – prohibit the execution of individuals who were minors at the time the crime was committed.
The German Government is opposed to the death penalty whatever the circumstances. Should Peyman Barandah be executed, it would be an unacceptable violation of international law. I strongly urge the Iranian judicial authorities not to carry out the planned execution and to give Peyman Barandah a fair trial and due process – without applying the death penalty.
Background information:
Peyman Barandah was arrested in 2010 at the age of 15. He is accused of having stabbed another youth to death during a fight involving several young people. After his arrest he was kept in solitary confinement for three months and allegedly tortured. He did not meet his lawyer before the start of his trial.
Although he claimed his innocence many times, he was sentenced to death in 2012. Since 2016, three applications for a new trial due to changes to Iranian juvenile criminal law have been rejected without any reasons being stated. The execution date was initially set for 9 April 2017 but was later postponed to 10 May 2017.
