The Iranian Judiciary sentenced a 17 year old boy to 100 lashes for a crime he allegedly did not commit and despite the civil suit being retracted by the victim’s family.
The 7th Branch of the Tehran Criminal court sentenced Ramin to 100 lashes on July 15. According to ROKNA, Ramin said he had not abused the 11 year old boy and the boy’s parents retracted their complaint against him. Despite this, the judges sentenced him to lashes.
Juveniles have been punished or even executed regularly since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979. Under Iranian law, the age for legally defining adulthood is determined by puberty, 15 for boys and nine for girls.
When there is a discrepancy between domestic law and international legal obligations, Iranian authorities have turned to domestic law.
In 2018, Iranian authorities publicly flogged a man for drinking alcohol at a wedding a decade ago when he was a teenager.
Identified only as M.R., the man was 14 or 15 years old when he consumed alcohol at the marriage party. In November 2018, he received 80 lashes on his back in Niazmand Square in the city of Kashmar.
“The circumstances of this case are absolutely shocking, representing another horrific example of the Iranian authorities’ warped priorities. No one, regardless of age, should be subjected to flogging; that a child was prosecuted for consuming alcohol and sentenced to 80 lashes beggars belief,” Philip Luther, research and advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International, said in an official statement.
Iran also has the highest rate of juvenile executions in the world, with seven confirmed executions of minors in 2018.
Iran continues to execute juveniles despite being a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, an international human rights treaty that forbids capital punishment for anyone under 18.
