Execution of child offenders in Iran

Tabled by Angelika Beer, Monica Frassoni

on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

The European Parliament,

– having regard to the Council Declaration of 25 February 2008 on the legislative proposal on criminal law in Iran,

– having regard to its previous resolutions on Iran, notably those concerning human rights and, in particular, those of 25 October 2007(1) and 31 January 2008(2) , 24 April 2008 on women's rights in Iran  

– having regard to its resolution of 8 May 2008 on the Annual Report on Human Rights in the World 2007 and the European Union's policy on the matter,

– having regard to the resolutions of the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN), and, in particular, Resolution 62/168 of 18 December 2007 on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran and Resolution 62/149 of 18 December 2007 on a moratorium on the use of the death penalty,

– having regard to the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to all of which Iran is a party,

- having regard to the declaration of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour of 3 June over risks of execution of four juvenile offenders in Iran;

– having regard to the declaration of the Slovenian Presidency of 10 June 2008,

– having regard to Rule 115 of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas the general human rights situation in Iran has continued to deteriorate since 2005, and whereas executions alone almost doubled in 2007, making Iran the country with the highest per capita number of executions after Saudi Arabia,

B. While a few others still execute children (such as Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen, and Pakistan), Iran has accounted for more than two-thirds of such executions in the past three years,

C. whereas according to reports over 100 individuals are on death row in Iran for crimes allegedly committed when under the age of 18, and many of them are still under 18 years of age,

D.Whereas on 10 June 2008, Iranian authorities in Sanandaj, the capital of the Iranian province of Kurdistan, hanged Mohammad Hassanzadeh, a youth still under 18 years of age (born in 1992), who had been sentenced to death when he was only 15 years old,

E. Whereas Mohammed Hassanzadeh's execution is the second time the death penalty has been applied to a child offender in Iran in 2008; on 26 February, Iran authorities executed Javad Shojaii for a crime he committed when he was 16,

F. Whereas in accordance to the reports received, recently another four persons – Behnoud Shojaaee, Mohammad Fadaaee, Saeed Jazee, and Behnam Zaare – have been sentenced to death for crimes that they committed when they were under 18 years old,

G. whereas the High Commissioner reminded the Iranian authorities of the absolute prohibition on the application of the death penalty for juvenile offenders under international law,

1. Is shocked by the execution of the adolescent Mohammed Hassanzadeh at the age of 16 in violation of Iran's legal obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),

2. Calls on the Islamic Republic of Iran and particularly on the Head of the Judiciary Sharudi to stay the executions of the all pending cases of executions of juvenile offenders, 

3. Reiterates its strong condemnation of the death penalty in general; calls for an immediate moratorium on executions in Iran and is appalled that Iran continues to have the highest number of executions of child offenders in the world and that the moratorium on stoning is still not fully implemented;

4.  Calls on the members of the newly elected Majlis to rapidly enact the pending reform of the Iranian penal code with the aim, notably, of abolishing stoning and executions of child offenders and to move towards a moratorium on the death penalty in order to bring Iranian legislation into line with international human rights obligations;

5. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the High Representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the UN Secretary-General, the UN Security Council, the UN Human Rights Council, the Head of the Judiciary of Iran and the Government and Parliament of the Islamic Republic of Iran.