A/HRC/34/54/Add.3 189. The Special Rapporteur urges the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to comply with its obligations under international customary law to investigate, prosecute, and punish all acts of torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment as codified, inter alia, in the ICCPR and customary international law. JUA 12/02/2015 Case No. IRN 3/2015 State Reply: 16/06/2015 and 04/03/2016 Allegations concerning the risk of imminent execution of Mr. Saman Naseem, a juvenile offender. 190. The Special Rapporteur thanks the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran for its replies, dated 16 June 2015 and 4 March 2016, to the present communication, available via the link above. 191. The Special Rapporteur takes note of the information provided by the Government as regards the stages of Mr. Naseem’s judicial and post-conviction proceedings; the information that Mr. Naseem was convicted pursuant to evidence other than his confession; and the claims that despite Mr. Naseem’s being below the age of 18 at the time of committing the crime, his “physical and mental growth has been established.” 192. In this context, and in light of the Government’s admission that it has imposed the death penalty upon a juvenile offender, the Special Rapporteur concludes that there is substance in the allegations presented in the initial communication, available via the link above, and that the Government has violated Mr. Naseem’s right be free from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment as provided by article 7 of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). 193. As observed by the Special Rapporteur in his 2012 report to the General Assembly (A/67/279), there is evidence of an evolving standard within international bodies and a robust State practice to frame the debate about the legality of the death penalty within the context of the fundamental concepts of human dignity and the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. This evolving standard, along with the resulting illegality of the death penalty under such prohibition, is developing into a norm of customary law, if it has not already done so (para. 74). Even if this customary norm is still under way, the Special Rapporteur considers that most conditions under which capital punishment is actually applied renders the punishment tantamount to torture and that under many other, less severe conditions, it still amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment (para.75). The Special Rapporteur emphasizes that the execution of persons who committed their crimes while they were under 18 years of age is per se a violation of an existing norm of customary international law (para. 64). Furthermore, any judgments imposing the death sentence and executions of juvenile offenders amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, which is prohibited inter alia in the CAT, and violate the Government’s obligation under article 37(a) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) to refrain from imposing the death penalty for offences committed by persons below 18 years of age. 194. The Special Rapporteur calls upon all States to reconsider whether the use of the death penalty per se respects the inherent dignity of the human person, causes severe mental and physical pain or suffering and constitutes a violation of the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; (para. 79 A/67/279). He reminds the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran that customary international law establishes the absolute and non-derogable prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment, as well as the prohibition of using evidence obtained under torture or ill-treatment. 38