Abdorrahman Boroumand Center

for Human Rights in Iran

https://www.iranrights.org
Omid, a memorial in defense of human rights in Iran
One Person’s Story

Osman Dahmardeh

About

Age: 19
Nationality: Iran
Religion: Presumed Muslim
Civil Status: Unknown

Case

Date of Killing: August 9, 2014
Location of Killing: Central Prison, Zahedan, Sistan Va Baluchestan Province, Iran
Mode of Killing: Hanging
Charges: Drug possession
Age at time of alleged offense: 17

About this Case

News of the execution of Mr. Osman Dahmardeh, along with four others, was published on the website of the Human Rights and Democracy Activists in Iran on August 9, 2014. He was less than 18 years old at the time of the committed crime.

International laws have strictly prohibited capital punishment against those who were under the age of 18 at the time of committing the crime. As a party to the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Iran has the obligation to avoid capital punishment for an offence committed before the age of eighteen.

Arrest and detention

Mr. Dahmardeh was arrested, along with his mother, when he was only 17 years old. He was detained for more than 2 years in Section 1, known as the Youth Section, of the Zahedan Prison. He had been transferred, along with five other prisoners, to solitary confinement in the Quarantine Section on August 7, 2014. The circumstances of his arrest and detention are not known.

Trial

No information is available on Mr. Dahmardeh’s trial.

Charges

The charge brought against Mr. Dahmardeh was announced as “possession of narcotics.”        

The validity of the criminal charges brought against this defendant cannot be ascertained in the absence of the basic guarantees of a fair trial. International human rights organizations have drawn attention to reports indicating that the Islamic Republic authorities have brought trumped-up charges, including drug trafficking, sexual, and other criminal offences, against their opponents (including political, civil society activists, as well as unionists and ethnic and religious minorities). Thousands of alleged drug traffickers have been sentenced to death following judicial processes that fail to meet international standards. Scores of them were executed based on a 1989 law imposing mandatory death sentences on drug traffickers found in possession of specified amounts of proscribed narcotics (5 kg of hashish or opium, and more than 30 grams of heroin, codeine or methadone). The exact number of people convicted based on trumped-up charges is unknown.   

Evidence of guilt

The report of this execution did not provide any specific information on the evidence presented against Mr. Dahmardeh.

Defense

Mr. Dahmardeh was less than 18 when arrested. No information is available on his defense.

Judgment

Mr. Osman Dahmardeh was hanged, along with four others, in the Zahedan Central Prison on August 9, 2014. His mother was executed along with him. 

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