Iran executes woman for alleged murder ..
The Iranian artist was executed on Friday for a murder allegedly committed when she was a juvenile and for which she retracted her brief confession, claiming she was covering up for her boyfriend.
The prison authorities hanged Miss Darabi, 23, even though the head of Iran's judiciary granted her a two-month stay of execution on April 19 amid international outrage over her case. They also did not give her lawyer the required 48 hours notice.
Miss Darabi made a tearful call early on Friday to her parents to say she could see the gallows and noose, according to media reports from Tehran.
"Mother they are going to execute me, please save me," she pleaded. But a prison official then grabbed the phone and told her distraught mother: "We are going to execute your daughter and there's nothing you can do about it."
Miss Darabi's case gained widespread attention after moving paintings and drawings that she made in her prison cell were shown around the world. She developed her talent as a painter behind bars.
Miss Darabi was 17 when she admitted killing her 58-year-old uncle in a burglary in 2003 but she quickly retracted the confession, saying she had taken the blame to save her boyfriend.
Amnesty International, the human rights group that campaigned vigorously to save Miss Darabi, led the condemnation.
"Amnesty International is outraged at the execution and particularly at the news that her lawyer was not informed," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, deputy chief for the Middle East and North Africa.
"This appears to have been a cynical move on the part of the authorities to avoid domestic and international protests which might have saved Delara Darabi's life.
"This indicates that even decisions by the Head of the Judiciary carry no weight and are disregarded in the provinces."
Full Story : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/5263203/Iran-e...
I don't remember the details but 3 years ago they executed an underage girl. She was raped by several men and out of self defense she killed one of them. They executed her because she "provoked" the men to rape her. Oh wow, a little girl in a conservative society who doesn't even know what sex is provokes grown up men with her way of dressing and walking...
9 years old! My god! How totally, utterly horrific, ignorant, barbaric is that? and without fair trial to boot!
There are no words to express the disgust that this is still allowed to happen in the 21st century.......
Moonbeam, I fully agree with you. I also heard they do execute children!
http://childexecutionsiranneedtostop.pbworks.com/FrontPage
http://www.stopchildexecutions.com/scedata.aspx
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/09/08/mena19777.htm
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977290048
According to Iranian law the age of criminal responsibility is 15 years old for boys and 9 years old for girls. Imagine your 3rd grade daughter could be executed???
MD, I wonder where you 'really' are from? And how long you have lived in an area of world where you are a guest and have NO freedom of speech, or protection from persecution for simply being truthful.
Either you are "part" of this world and are either too scared to speak, or enjoy the privileges offered by 'squashing' the weaker................or you are part of the outsiders that really have no clue as to what is going on in countries like Iran.
The west is by far not perfect..........but at least there are fair trials (pretty much),juvenile offenses are punished appropriately........ and archaic rituals that go back to MEDIEVAL and BARBARIC times, have been abolished, such as stoning etc.
Iran has so many intelligent and amazing scholars which are too fearful to speak out against a tyrannical government............and who pays the price? A young woman who tried to save her boyfriend.......
I wonder where her boyfriend is in all of this?
A country that abuses basic human rights, and freedom of speech should be labeled negatively. Public world pressure should be shown, so that it's people can live FREE lives and not oppression.
Thank god they are an Islamic Republic!
Imagine if they where just a secular republlic!
Yes, i would agree with you on that.. It doesn't do any harm to keep Iran as the "Pariah"
I understand the concern, brit. But the world is full of unjust verdicts. So why do they exaggerate this one? Building up the "enemy" image? They need a "bad" guy?
I think the argument is that she was a "juvenile" when the alleged crime took place. Also, the confession may have been coerced.
Forgot the link:
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/
The USA executed 24 in 2009. So why not Iran?