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
FEBRUARY 1, 2023IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: CALCUTTA HIGH COURT COMMUTES THE DEATH SENTENCE TO LIFE IMPRISONMENT FOR TWO
The Calcutta High Court on 31 January 2023 commuted the death sentence of two persons, convicted of abduction, rape, and murder of a minor girl at Balagarh in West Bengal's Hooghly district to imprisonment for life without remission till the end of their
DECEMBER 26, 2022DEATH PENALTYIRAN - Yousef Mirzavand executed in Dezful on December 26
Mirzavand was 16 years old at the time arrest
OCTOBER 12, 2022IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH IN ANDHRA PRADESH FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT ON MINOR GIRL
The POCSO Court of Andhra Pradesh on 10 October 2022 awarded death sentence to J. Anil (30) who sexually assaulted a minor girl at Nunna village.
- SEPTEMBER 3, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Mohsen Qanbarzahi and Ainullah Qanbarzahi executed in Zahedan on September 3
AUGUST 31, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Mohammad Hossein Alizadeh was actually a minor
AUGUST 10, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Probable Juvenile Offender executed in Qom on August 10
Mohammad Hossein Alizadeh
- JUNE 15, 2022Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE FOR MAN CONVICTED AS MINOR
A Saudi court has upheld a death sentence against teenager Abdullah al-Huwaiti, who was convicted for crimes reportedly committed when he was a minor.
- MAY 12, 2022IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: FOUR SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR GANG RAPE, MURDER BY BIHAR COURT
A court in Bihar’s Supaul on 11 May 2022 sentenced to death four persons convicted in a 2019 gang rape and murder case.
MAY 3, 2022IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: BOMBAY HIGH COURT PERMITS 2 CONVICTS ON DEATH ROW TO PURSUE STUDIES WHILE IN PRISON
The Bombay High Court permitted 2 convicts sentenced to death in 2017 for raping and killing a minor girl to pursue their studies through open university while in prison.
APRIL 12, 2022MalaysiaDEATH PENALTYMALAYSIA: YOUNG WOMAN CONVICTED OF HUSBAND’S MURDER ESCAPES THE GALLOWS
A 22-year-old woman escaped the death penalty in Malaysia on 10 April 2022, when the Muar High Court ordered her to be jailed for a period until pardoned by the Sultan of Johor, after she was found guilty of killing her husband five years ago.
MARCH 3, 2022Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: COMMUTED DEATH SENTENCE FOR MAN CONVICTED AS MINOR REINSTATED
A Saudi man sentenced to death for crimes reportedly committed when he was a minor, only to see the judgement overturned last year, had his death sentence reinstated on 2 March 2022, according to his family.
FEBRUARY 17, 2022DEATH PENALTYIRAN: 85 MINORS IN THE DEATH ROW (AS OF NOVEMBER 2021)
UN human rights experts on 25 November 2021 strongly condemned the execution of Arman Abdolali, convicted for an alleged murder committed when he was 17, and demanded that Iran stop sentencing children to death.
FEBRUARY 14, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Juvenile offender Mohammadreza Hadadi’s conviction overturned
19 years on death row
- FEBRUARY 7, 2022Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA RELEASES SHIA MINOR AFTER COMMUTING HIS DEATH SENTENCE
Saudi Arabia on 2 February 2022 freed Dawoud Al-Marhoon who had previously been sentenced to death for protesting while he was a minor.
JANUARY 10, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Juvenile Offender Mostafa Emdadi on Death Row
NOVEMBER 24, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Juvenile offender Arman Abdolali executed
In Rajai Shahr Prison on November 24
NOVEMBER 24, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Juvenile Offender Arman Abdolali Buried in Tehran
- NOVEMBER 16, 2021Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA RELEASES SECOND MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR CHILDHOOD 'CRIMES'
Saudi authorities have released Adbullah al-Zaher, a young man who had been sentenced to death for "crimes" he allegedly committed as a child, human rights activists announced on 14 November 2021.
- NOVEMBER 14, 2021Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI COURT OVERTURNS DEATH SENTENCE FOR MAN CONVICTED AS MINOR; RETRIAL TO FOLLOW
A Saudi court overturned a conviction on a death penalty charge for a young man following what rights groups called a "grossly unfair trial" for crimes committed when he was a minor, his family said on 10 November 2021.
NOVEMBER 3, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Juvenile offender Arman Abdolali’s execution postponed for the fifth time
He is still at imminent risk of execution
OCTOBER 28, 2021Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: ALI AL-NIMR RELEASED FROM PRISON AFTER NEARLY A DECADE
A young Saudi man was released from prison on 27 October 2021 after spending nearly a decade behind bars in a case that drew international scrutiny because until recently he’d been facing a possible death sentence for protest-related crimes committed as a
- OCTOBER 12, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Urgent: Juvenile Offender Arman Abdolali Scheduled to be Executed in 24 Hours
- AUGUST 2, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Sajad (Sajjad) Sanjari, a minor, executed in Dizelabad prison on August 2
He was 15 years old at the time of the crime
- JULY 25, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Ebrahim Shehbakhsh executed in Isfahan Prison on July 25
For drug-related crimes
JUNE 30, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Death row juvenile offender Ali Arjangi pays diya
Escapes execution
- JUNE 8, 2021Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
UNITED KINGDOM: FOREIGN SECRETARY URGED TO INTERVENE IN SAUDI ARABIA DEATH PENALTY CASES
The relatives of two men awaiting execution in Saudi Arabia on 7 June 2021 asked British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to press for their release while he visits the kingdom.
- MAY 23, 2021IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Saleh Shariati, Juvenile Offender Sentenced to Death, Acquitted in Court
A "qassameh" case
- FEBRUARY 18, 2021IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR SEXUALLY ASSAULTING, KILLING MENTALLY RETARDED MINOR BOY
The Mahila Court on 18 February 2021 awarded death penalty to a 34-year-old man hailing from Gujarat for sexually assaulting and murdering a mentally retarded 17-year-old minor boy.
FEBRUARY 8, 2021IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Saeed Naderi and an unknows female executed in Ardabil Prison on February 8
The woman, 23, may have been a juvenile offender
FEBRUARY 3, 2021BangladeshDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: TWO SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR RAPING, KILLING MINOR GIRL
A Shariatpur court on 3 February 2021 sentenced two people to death for killing a minor girl after rape at Sakhipur village under Bhedarganj upazila, three years back.