Reported by PMOI/MEK
Iran, June 24, 2019 – Amnesty International (AI) issued a call demanding urgent action taken to save the life of a juvenile on death row in Iran.
AI is expressing grave concern over the condition of Daniel Zeinolabedin, a juvenile in Iran’s prison.
The human rights body called on all people and human rights activists from around the world to put pressure on the Iranian regime by writing letters to them to stop this execution.
Amnesty reports that Daniel Zeinolabedin has been sentenced to death for a crime allegedly committed when he was 17.
Danial has been under severe stress in a Mahabad prison, northern Iran, and he has suffered mental health illness. Sources familiar with his case say Danial has inflicted injuries to himself.
Iran’s Supreme Court has upheld his execution despite extensive flaws in his case. Danial was born on Aug. 9, 2000. He has been charged in a murder case dating back to Sept. 22, 2017. At the time of the investigations, his family was told that he was not in the immediate scene of the crime.
Therefore, he could get a lighter sentence. But a family member said, we later learned that the criminal court has sentenced Danial to death. His family insists that Danial is innocent and he has not committed any crime. He and three others have been charged with the murder of a man identified as Sadegh Barmaki.
Amnesty International has time and again called on Iranian regime authorities to adhere to their obligations under the international law of not executing juveniles.
Iran is on the top of the list of the only five countries that are known to execute juveniles.
Iran penal code, as amended in 2013, prohibits the execution of child offenders. Article 91 of the amended penal code allows judges to use their discretion not to issue a death sentence against a child who was not able to comprehend the nature and consequences of the crime at the time.
The amended law also allows the courts to rely on “the opinion of a forensic doctor or other means it deems appropriate” to establish whether the defendant understood the consequences of their actions.
However, Iranian regime courts have continued executing juvenile offenders even after these amendments became law. Tehran has an abysmal human rights violations record. In 2018 alone, Iran executed seven people for crimes they allegedly committed as juveniles.
