The authorities of Sanandaj Central Prison have told Kurdish juvenile offender Hemen Oraminejad that he is now at imminent risk of execution, an activist said.
Oraminejad was arrested and sentenced to death under Iran’s ‘Qesas law’ (an eye for an eye) when he was a teenager.
According to an activist who spoke with Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN), Oraminejad was “called for a meeting a few days ago by the authorities of the Sanandaj Central Prison and he was told by the prison authorities that his execution would be scheduled at any moment [from the time of the meeting].”
Oraminejad was arrested in February 2012 when he was 17 years of age and he was subsequently charged with murder.
The Court of Sanandaj sentenced him to death under Qesas law, and the Appeal Court of Sanandaj later confirmed the sentence.
The Supreme Court of Iran, which is the highest judicial authority in the country, confirmed the death sentence in October 2015 after forensic examiners said the young man was fully aware of his actions at the time when he carried out the murder.
The activist said: “Oraminejad tried all the judicial recourses available. His last hope is now the efforts made by some human rights activists to obtain for him ‘forgiveness’ from the victim’s family in order to avoid the death penalty.”
Amnesty International launched a social media campaign in March 2016 to raise awareness on the case of this juvenile offender and explicitly asked the Iranian authorities not to execute him.
