the Head of the Judiciary ordered the local judiciary in Mashhad not to proceed...

the Head of the Judiciary ordered the local judiciary in Mashhad not to proceed with the Abbas Hosseini’s execution, and referred his case to the judiciary in Tehran for review. The case of a nineteen year old Abbas Hosseini, an Afghan national who was due to be executed on 1 May for a murder committed at the age of seventeen, which he said was in a “moment of insanity”. A stay of execution was granted until 8 May, reportedly in order to give the victim’s family the opportunity to accept the payment of compensation (diyeh) in return for the commutation of the death sentence. On 3 June 2004 he was sentenced to death by Branch 43 of Mashhad Special Court. The sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court on 28 October.