IRAN - More information on Majid Esmaeilzadeh, the juvenile offender executed on April 18, 2020

More information on the case of Majid Esmaeilzadeh, the juvenile offender who was executed at Ardabil prison on April 18, 2020. “He was tortured to confess at the time of arrest”, his father told IHR. Majid was 17 at the time of committing the alleged crime. His family was poor and could not afford to pay for lawyers and his public defender had never answered Esmaeilzadeh family’s calls. Iran Human Rights reported Majid’s execution on April 18, 2020, and quoted from some sources that he was possibly a child at the time of the alleged crime. Now, IHR’s researchers could confirm he was only 17 at the time of arrest by interviewing his father. Majid Esmaeilzadeh’s father told IHR that his son (born on September 1, 1998) was arrested on April 26, 2015, on the charge of murdering a 45-year-old man who “had sex with him.” According to the father, Majid’s trial was held in Branch 1 of a special court for children Ardabil. The court sentenced him to death. Majid was sent to forensics two times in order to establish whether he was mentally mature but it is not known what was the result.