Monday, February 06, 2006

Sentenced to a Public Hanging for Self-Defense


An Iranian court sentenced Nazanin, 18, to death by public hanging after the teenage attempted-rape victim weepingly confessed to unintentionally killing one of the three assailants who had attacked both her and her niece. The state-run daily Etemaad reported that the pair, along with their boyfriends, were spending time together in a park west of the Iranian capital in March 2005 when three men began to assault them with stones. After their boyfriends deserted them (quickly escaping on their motorbikes), the two young women were left to fend for themselves, and no one else came to their rescue. Nazanin, merely 17 at the time of the incident, described how the men pushed her and her 16-year-old niece Somayeh onto the ground and attempted to rape them, at which point she took-out a knife from her pocket. She stabbed one of the men in the hand, and in the girls' escape, stabbed one of the men in the chest as they continued to pursue them. Although women have become accustomed to carrying knives--given the rise of attacks and rapes--they are not permitted to defend themselves or carry such weapons in self-defense.

The European Union and international human rights groups have been pressuring Iran to stop executing those under age 18, and the UN General Assembly has adopted a non-binding resolution denouncing the practice of executing minors in Iran. According to Iranian law, a boy can be executed from the age of 15, and a girl from the age of 9. However, execution is carried out when the offender is over 18 years-old. At least 81 people were executed in Iran last year, according to an Associated French Press tally of press reports and witnesses. Amnesty International says that at least 159 people were executed in Iran in 2004.

For more details, please visit the articles posted on the following websites:

posted by Kathryn Soraya Khamsi at 9:59 AM