Iranian authorities executed teenager Abolfazl Chezani Sharahi this morning at Qom Prison. He was sentenced to death in 2014 on charge of murder while he was 14 years old.
Since 2014, he has been sent to solitary confinement four times in preparation for his execution only to be delayed afterwards.
The last time he was transferred to solitary confinement on January 15, 2018, but his the execution scheduled for 17 January was postponed.
He was just 14 years old when arrested and his execution is prohibited under international law.
In a statement released on January 19, 2018, Amnesty International urged the Iranian authorities to cancel any plans to execute Abolfazl Chezani Sharahi and ensure that his death sentence is commuted without delay;
UN human rights experts also have appealed to Iran to halt the execution of Abolfazl Chezani Sharahi stating, “The Iranian authorities must immediately halt the execution of this juvenile offender and annul the death sentence against him and afford him a fair trial in compliance with their international obligations,” the experts said. “This planned execution represents a flagrant disregard for international human rights law, which is all the more shocking given the most recent execution of another juvenile offender.”
Abolfazl Chezani Sharahi was sentenced to death on 17 September 2014, after Branch 1 of the Criminal Court in Qom province convicted him of murder for the fatal stabbing of a young man during a fight on 26 December 2013.
He was 14 years old at the time of the crime. In sentencing him to death, the court held that he had reached the age of adult criminal responsibility as per Article 147 of the 2013 Islamic Penal Code, which sets this age at 15
lunar years (14 years and six months) for boys and 9 lunar years (8 years and 8 months) for girls. The court also cited an opinion from the Legal Medicine Organization of Iran that stated he had “mental maturity” at the time of the crime. The verdict was upheld by the Supreme Court in November 2014. In 2015, Abolfazl Chezani Sharahi submitted a request for retrial noting his young age and the fact that the medical panel assessing his maturity at the time of the crime did not include a child psychology specialist. Branch 33 of the Supreme Court rejected the request for retrial in October 2015.
