Execution of Reyhaneh Jabbari, 26, carries out in Tehran jail despite rights group's plea for international intervention.
By REUTERS, JPOST.COM STAFFAn Iranian woman attends a religious conference in Tehran(photo credit: REUTERS)
A 26-year-old Iranian woman convicted of murdering a man she accused of trying to rape her as a teenager was hanged on Saturday, the official news agency IRNA said, despite international pleas for her life to be spared.Reyhaneh Jabbari walked to the gallows at dawn on Saturday in Tehran's Evin prison after failing to secure a reprieve from the murder victim's relatives within the 10-day deadline set by sharia law in force since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.In 2007, Jabbari was arrested for killing Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi, a former employee of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence. Jabbari claimed that she was defending herself against Sarbandi’s sexual advances.She was given the death penalty by a Tehran court in 2009. The Iranian supreme court denied her appeals against the sentence.She was originally scheduled to be put to death last month, but Iranian authorities postponed the move at the last minute, perhaps due to the international attention Jabbari’s case has attracted.“The authorities must act now to stop her execution,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, the deputy director of Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa division.“Instead of repeatedly rescheduling Reyhaneh Jabbari’s execution date, the Iranian judiciary should order a re-trial that complies with international standards for fair trial without recourse to the death penalty.”
