Despite being diagnosed with mental and emotional disorders, Mohammad Kalhori is facing imminent execution in Iran for a crime he allegedly committed at the age of 15, his attorney Hossein Aghakhani told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) on February 28, 2019.
With the sentence already issued and confirmed, Kalhori’s lawyer has asked the victim’s family to pardon him on the grounds that he was just a minor without mental maturity at the time of the crime, as allowed by the presiding court in the city of Boroujerd, Lorestan Province.
“Unfortunately, my client’s execution order has gone through the full judicial process and he could be hanged at any moment,” Aghakhani told CHRI. “The enforcement office has told his family that time is limited and if they don’t get a pardon from the victim’s family, he could be hanged soon.”
“[The victim Mohsen] Khashkhashi’s family has so far refused to grant a pardon but on the other hand, there is evidence and medical documents to show that the judiciary should have reviewed the death sentence because of my client’s mental and emotional disorders,” he added.
On February 21, the UN called on Iran to “halt the execution of this child offender and immediately annul the death sentence against him, in line with its international obligations.”
According to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, it is illegal to execute someone for crimes committed under the age of 18. Iran is party to both treaties but remains one among a handful of countries still putting juveniles to death.
According to Article 91 of Iran’s Islamic Penal Code, “If mature people under 18-years-old do not realize the nature of the crime committed or its prohibition, or if there is uncertainty about their full mental development, according to their age” they can be spared the death penalty.
In September 2016, Branch 2 of the Criminal Court in Lorestan sentenced Kalhori, who was born in March 1998, to death for murdering his teacher in November 2014. In April 2016, the medical examiner of Lorestan Province determined Kalhori was not mentally mature when the crime was committed.
“My client was 15 when the murder happened,” Kalhori’s attorney, Hassan Aghakhani, told CHRI on February 22, 2018.
“According to the medical examiner’s opinion, his action was not based on reason or logic and he was lacking mental development,” he added. “His adviser in the juvenile reform center also says that he didn’t have the mental ability to understand his action.”
The attorney added: “Article 91 of the Islamic Penal Code should be applied to him but unfortunately, the court has not paid attention to this matter.”
Interference with the Judicial Process
Aghaghani told CHRI that his attempts to reverse the death sentence had been unsuccessful because a deputy education minister and an influential member of Iran’s Parliament had asked the court to “look after” the victim’s family.
“We lodged an appeal and made 2 requests [in June and October 2017] for a judicial review by Branch 33 of the Supreme Court presided by Judge Mohammad Niazi,” Aghaghani said. “But [Judge Niazi] believes in retribution. When it was time to consider the appeal, unfortunately there was a letter from a deputy education minister and 2 letters from Alaeddin Boroujerdi, who is the member of Parliament from Boroujerd [city] and chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for National Security and Foreign Policy, requesting that the judge to look after the victim, not the murderer.”
Aghakhani continued: “When it was determined that my client did not have sufficient mental development, we did not expect the political and security officials to get involved. This kid could have been saved if the law followed a normal course, without the court being influenced by the political climate, but unfortunately, they interfered in this case.”
Kalhori killed his physics teacher, Mohammad Khashkhashi, with a pocket knife after allegedly being physically attacked for alleged disobedience on November 22, 2014, at the Hafezi High School in Boroujerd, Lorestan Province.
“At the preliminary stage [March 2016], Branch 1 of the Criminal Court in Lorestan Province sentenced my client to three years in prison and ordered him to pay blood money to the victim’s parents,” Aghakhani told CHRI.
“But the victim’s family appealed the decision [in September 2016] and Branch 31 of the Supreme Court struck down the ruling and ordered a new trial, which resulted in a death sentence against my client without regard to Article 91 of the Islamic Penal Code,” he added.
According to Islamic law, Diyah, known as “blood money” in English, is paid as financial compensation to the victim or heirs of a victim in cases of murder, bodily harm, or property damage.
Kalhori has been held at a juvenile rehabilitation center in Lorestan Province since November 2014.
In a UN report on the human rights situations in Iran covering the period of January 2018 to October 2018, Special Rapporteur Javaid Rehman called on Iran’s Parliament to “urgently amend legislation” to prohibit the execution of people who committed crimes while under the age of 18 and amend the legislation to commute all existing sentences for child offenders on death row.”
Source: Iran Human Rights, March 2, 2019
Statement By UN Experts: Iran Must Stop Execution of Juvenile Offender Mohammad Kalhori
GENEVA (21 February 2019) – Iran must immediately halt the imminent execution of child offender Mohammad Kalhori, say a group of UN human rights experts in a statement published today.
Mohammad Kalhori was sentenced to death for killing his teacher when he was 15 years old. It is reported that his family have been told to visit him for the final time. This is taken as a strong indication that his execution is imminent.
“Iran must halt the execution of this child offender and immediately annul the death sentence against him, in line with its international obligations,” the experts said in a joint statement.
“Iran has committed itself to prohibiting the use of the death penalty for all those who committed a crime while under the age of 18 by its ratification of both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. As such, this execution is unlawful and arbitrary,” they stressed.
In 2013, Iran amended its Penal Code to allow judges to provide alternative sentences for child offenders if there was uncertainty about their “mental development” at the time of the crime or if they had not realized the nature of the crime. Iran assured the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2016 that the amendment, Article 91, would apply systematically to all child offenders on death row.
Kalhori, now aged 20, was sentenced to death on appeal despite a State forensic institution report that found he was not mentally mature at the time of the crime. He had originally been sentenced to imprisonment and a fine based on the report.
“Notwithstanding the clear prohibition of the application of the death penalty for those who committed a crime while under the age of 18, this case demonstrates a flagrant disregard for the amendment to the Penal Code itself,” the UN experts said.
There are believed to be dozens of child offenders on death row in Iran, which reportedly executed at least six child offenders in 2018.
The UN experts have previously notified the Government of Iran about their deep and continuous concerns."
-- The UN experts: Mr. Nils Melzer (Switzerland), Special Rapporteur on torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; Ms Agnes Callamard (France), Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; Ms Renate Winter (Austria),Chairperson of the Committee on the Rights of the Child; Mr. Javaid Rehman (Pakistan), Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.
-- UN human rights experts previously issued a press release on 19 June 2018 concerning Mohammad Kalhori, which also appealed to Iran to halt his execution and commute his death sentence.
Source:
Iran Human Rights, February 21, 2019
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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
