The death penalty and juveniles
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The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child prohibit the death penalty for crimes committed before the age of eighteen. It is one of the clearest prohibitions in international law, and yet sentences and executions continue to be documented against people who were minors at the time of the offence, often in proceedings where the age itself is disputed.
This page collects the news on those cases.
Latest news
APRIL 14, 2026Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: ALI AL-SUBAITI AND HIS UNCLE MUSTAFA AL-SUBAITI EXECUTED IN NINTH POLITICAL EXECUTION THIS YEAR
Saudi authorities executed Ali bin Hassan Al-Subaiti and his uncle Mustafa bin Saleh Al-Subaiti on April 9, 2026, in the Eastern Province, after convicting them on alleged “terrorism” charges, marking the ninth political execution since the beginning of t
APRIL 6, 2026IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohsen Eslamkhah, 19-year-old protester, sentenced to death
FEBRUARY 5, 2026SomaliaDEATH PENALTYSOMALIA: WOMAN EXECUTED FOR MURDERING A CHILD IN A CASE THAT SPARKED OUTRAGE
The authorities in Puntland, a semi‑autonomous region of Somalia, have executed a woman convicted of murdering a 14‑year‑old girl, in a rare case in the region in which the death penalty has been carried out against a woman.
NOVEMBER 3, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Goli Kouhkan, married at 12, will be executed for killing her husband unless she finds €90,000
- OCTOBER 21, 2025Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI’S 48 HOUR EXECUTION SPREE KILLS CHILD AND DRUG DEFENDANTS
Saudi Arabia executed on October 20 and 21, 2025 a prisoner who participated in protests as a minor and two men convicted of drug-related crimes.
OCTOBER 20, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Ali Aghajeri Peyvand and Sajad Shokri executed in Ahvaz on October 20
Aghajeri was 17 years old at the time of crime
AUGUST 25, 2025Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: MAN EXECUTED OVER PROTESTS HE ATTENDED AS A 16-YEAR-OLD
Saudi Arabia executed Jalal Labbad on 21 August 2025 for crimes allegedly committed when he was under 18 years of age [a child].
JUNE 17, 2025KenyaDEATH PENALTYKENYA: AFTER 18 YEARS IN JAIL, COURT APOLOGISES TO MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH
Lulu Adu was just 17 when he was sentenced to die in Kenya. Eighteen years later, a court finally acknowledged its mistake — and set him free, The Star reported on June 17, 2025.
MAY 28, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 5 men, including a juvenile offendere, executed in Karaj on May 28
Amir Hossein Mohammadi, Majid Bahrami, Seyed Abbas Laki Khosrokhani, Hojjat Havasi Geravand, and Afshin Azizi
MARCH 16, 2025JordanDEATH PENALTYJORDAN: WOMAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR POISONING STEPDAUGHTER
The Grand Criminal Court has sentenced a woman to death by hanging for poisoning her stepdaughter, Roya News reported on March 13, 2025.
FEBRUARY 16, 2025IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hengaw’s Statistical Report: 909 Executions in Iran in 2024
JANUARY 9, 2025DEATH PENALTYINDIA: SENTENCED TO DEATH AS MINOR, MAN SET FREE AFTER 23 YEARS
The Supreme Court of India on January 8, 2025 set free a minor offender, more than 23 years after he was sentenced to death by an Uttarakhand court in a murder case
DECEMBER 18, 2024NigeriaDEATH PENALTYNIGERIA: OSUN GOVERNOR ORDERS PROBE, CLEMENCY FOR MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR STEALING FOWL
Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke has ordered an urgent review of the case involving a teenager sentenced to death for stealing a fowl.
- DECEMBER 10, 2024IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: DEATH SENTENCE AWARDED TO YOUTH IN 61 DAYS FOR MINOR'S RAPE-MURDER IN JAYNAGAR
A POCSO court in Baruipur of West Bengal's South 24 Parganas on December 5, 2024 awarded death sentence to Mustaqin, convicted of rape and murder of a minor girl from Jaynagar.
NOVEMBER 28, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - 3 men, 1 of them a minor, executed in Yazd on November 28
Ismail Barakzai, a minor, Davood Mohammadi Takht-Shah, Osman Dahmardeh
NOVEMBER 2, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Soleiman Abbaspour, a possible child offender, was executed in Zanjan on November 2
SEPTEMBER 25, 2024IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: 4 GET DEATH SENTENCE FOR KILLING 3 RELATIVES OVER PROPERTY DISPUTE
A fast-track court (FTC) in Mainpuri (Uttar Pradesh) has sentenced a 32-year-old man from Etawah to death for his involvement in the murder of his three relatives, including a couple in their early 50s and their minor son, in a 12-year-old property disput
SEPTEMBER 16, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mehdi Jahanpour was 16 when committed the crime
One of the three men executed in Shiraz on September 16
JULY 31, 2024FloridaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Florida. White woman who wrongfully accused ‘Groveland Four’ of rape dies at 92
Norma Padget falsely accused 4 Black men of rape in 1949
JUNE 12, 2024IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: 2 BROTHERS GET DEATH SENTENCE FOR RAPING, BURNING MINOR GIRL IN RAJASTHAN
Two men convicted of raping and murdering a 14-year-old girl in August last year - by burning her alive in a coal furnace - were sentenced to death on May 18, 2024 by a special court in Rajasthan's Bhilwara.
APRIL 11, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Esmaeil Hosniani and Marjan Hajizadeh executed in Zanjan on April 11
Husband and 19 year old wife
DECEMBER 13, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Hamid Bakshayesh executed in Karaj on December 13
There is a high possibility that he was a child offender
NOVEMBER 26, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Adel Damani executed in Chabahar on November 26
16 years old at the time of the alleged offence
- NOVEMBER 25, 2023IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - More information about the execution of Hamidreza Azari
He was 17 at the time of the crime
NOVEMBER 24, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Unidentified young man executed in Sabzevar on 24 November
Possibly a minor at the time of the crime
OCTOBER 31, 2023PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: PHC COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE OF CONVICT IN MULTIPLE MURDER CASE
Peshawar High Court has commuted death sentence awarded to a convict to life imprisonment for killing four of his close family members including his father and brother in Nowshera district around six years ago, Dawn reported on October 30, 2023.
OCTOBER 18, 2023Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: CHILD DEFENDANT AT IMMINENT RISK OF EXECUTION
Abdullah al-Derazi is a child defendant at risk of imminent execution in Saudi Arabia, despite repeated claims by Saudi authorities that they have abolished the death penalty for children.
MAY 27, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Juvenile Offender Hossein Shahbazi at Risk of Execution
Despite Third Postponement
APRIL 13, 2023PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR RAPING HIS MINOR DAUGHTER
A man was sentenced to death in Pakistan on April 7, 2023 for raping his minor daughter in the country's Punjab province.
MARCH 28, 2023IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: SUPREME COURT RELEASES DEATH ROW PRISONER AFTER 28 YEARS ON FINDING HIM TO BE A JUVENILE AT THE TIME OF OFFENCE
The Supreme Court on 27 March 2023 released a death row convict upon finding that even though he was a juvenile at the time of the commission of the offence he was tried as an adult and was sentenced to death.