Interview by Carole Vann/Human Rights Tribune – Islamic law does not embrace international law in Iran, even in cases covered by conventions ratified by the government, such as that regarding the execution of minors. According to Amnesty International, nearly 150 minors are currently to be found on death row. Four of them face execution in the coming days. Renate Winter has had frequent experience working with Iranian judges.

Can you explain this distinction between ‘execution’ and ‘reparation’ according to Iranian law?

Iranian law does not specify the death penalty (edam in Farsi) for persons under 18 years of age. On the other hand, there is the matter of reparations (qisa) for delinquents between 15 and 18 years of age and according to Islamic law, reparation in the case of homicide is the death penalty. The victim’s family members may pardon the killer or accept an indemnity instead of execution but there is no obligation to do so. At present, Iranian law authorizes application of the death penalty – under ‘reparation’ in cases of homicide or other infractions – for girls as young as nine and boys of 15. A younger child could also be condemned to death if the judge on the case considers the delinquent is past puberty.

Do any alternatives exist?

Judges may try and propose mediation between the victim’s family and the murderer. They may seek to convince the family to accept another form of punishment, such as a public apology or money. But often the men of these families refuse to accept money as compensation for death. They claim that honor does not allow them to accept money for the death of their sons.

What effect can international pressure have? If UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon directly addressed the Iranian President, could this stop such executions?

As I already said, only the family can commute the death penalty in favor of another. The decision is in their hands. Even the President does not have this power in Iran. It is useless to ask the head of state to issue a pardon if he does not have the power to do so.

Then what good will the current campaign against the death penalty for minors accomplish?

The campaign is also addressed to the country’s leaders. Even if their margin of action is limited, they could try and persuade the population that the reputation of the country is also at stake, not just their own.

Are Iranian judges and lawyers aware of the depth of the problem?

Absolutely. I have not encountered a single judge in Iran who has not done everything in his power to convince families to renounce capital punishment. They have even resorted to going around the law. A judge can consider that a person has the physical, but not psychological signs of puberty (and is therefore not an adult). He may even seek expert opinion.

Iran has the saddest record of executing minors in the world. Can one say that Iranian law is worse than in other countries that also apply Islamic law?

On the contrary it is less so because state law does exist which is not the case in Saudi Arabia, for example, where only Sharia law reigns which is not even written down thus giving a wide margin of interpretation for judges.