Amnesty InternationalOctober 28, 2015
Milad Azimi may be at risk of execution in connection with the murder of a man when he was 17 years old. His trial was grossly unfair and relied on “confessions” extracted through torture.
Milad Azimi was sentenced to death by Branch 3 of the Provincial Criminal Court of Kermanshah Province in May 2015 under the Islamic principle of qesas (retribution-in-kind) for his alleged involvement in a fatal stabbing during a fight among several young men in December 2013. He has denied to have inflicted the fatal stab wound. In its verdict, the court acknowledged that Milad Azimi had been under 18 at the time of the crime but said there was “no doubt about his mental growth and maturity and that he understood the nature of his crime and the dangers of using a knife”. The court acknowledged that he had had no prior intention to kill but said that he was aware of the fatal nature of his conduct. His death sentence was upheld in August 2015 by Branch 17 of the Supreme Court. Milad Azimi subsequently requested a retrial based on the new juvenile sentencing guidelines in Iran’s 2013 Islamic Penal Code. The Supreme Court is now believed to have rejected the request. Once the Head of the Judiciary approves the sentence, the deceased’s family can ask for it to be carried out at any time.
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Also see:
- Iran: Halt Milad Azimi's Execution (UA 245/15), Amnesty International USA
