Norway blasts 'grotesque' hike in Iran public executions

Public hanging in Shiraz, Iran
April 16, 2011

OSLO, Apr 21, 2011 (AFP) - Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere on Thursday blasted a sharp hike in public executions in Iran and the high use of the death penalty in the country.

"The increased number of public executions using brutal methods such as suffocation by being hoisted up by a crane are particularly grotesque and not worthy of a modern society," Stoere said in a statement.

He added Norwegian research showed Iran had executed 15 people in public so far this year, compared to 19 for all of last year.

A foreign ministry spokesman told AFP the data was obtained through human rights activists in Iran as well as international organisations.

Stoere added Norwegian figures showed Iran had executed a total of 187 so far this year, while the total number in 2010 had been as high as 682 executions.

That toll is higher than an AFP count based on media reports that put at 101 the number of executions so far this year in Iran.

"Norway is by principle against the death penalty. It is particularly worrisome that the death penalty is used in a country where the rule of law is as weak as it is in Iran," the minister added.

Norway often uses strong language to condemn the death penalty in Iran and has frequently summons Tehran's diplomats in Oslo to protest executions.

Last year, it summoned the Iranian ambassador to protest the highly publicised case of Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, whose death sentence by stoning for adultery drew widespread international condemnation.

One of her lawyers also fled to Norway last year after Tehran issued an arrest warrant for him.

- Related articles: "Three young men hanged in public in the Iranian city of Shiraz", April 16, 2011; "Man hanged in public in Kazeroun, south of Iran", April 20, 211; "Four hanged in public in Bandar Abbas, southern Iran", April 21, 2011

- Related video: "Iran, January 2011", January 2011

Source: AFP, January 21, 2011

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Germany reacts to criticism of Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle's trip to Iran

German Foreign Minister
Guido Westerwelle and
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

BERLIN, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle has defended himself against criticism that he met with Iranian hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to free two German journalists.

"Whoever criticizes this trip should tell that to the two who are now back in Germany," he said.

Westerwelle Saturday flew to Iran to bring home two German journalists who had been sitting in an Iranian prison for several months. They were arrested last October while interviewing the son of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, whose death-by-stoning sentence for an adultery conviction drew international condemnation last summer.

The affair had further undermined Germany's relations with Iran, which is shunned by the West for its controversial nuclear program and its crackdown on the domestic opposition.

After months of negotiations, Tehran last week indicated that the pair, reporter Marcus Hellwig and photographer Jens Koch, might be released on the condition that Westerwelle meet with Ahmadinejad. It was the first such bilateral encounter between the Iranian president and a German foreign minister.

Afterward, Westerwelle, Hellwig and Koch boarded the Bundeswehr plane and flew to Germany, where they were greeted by the journalists' families who had feared for their relatives for months.

The German opposition and exiled Iranians in Europe condemned the meeting as an unnecessary gesture to the Iranian regime at a time when it's coming under pressure from protesters.

"This trip is nothing but pinning hope on the bankrupt and utterly failed policy of appeasement," the National Council of Resistance of Iran, an exiled Iranian opposition group, said in a statement e-mailed Saturday to reporters.

It said Westerwelle's meeting with Ahmadinejad took place "only a few days after the bloody crackdown" on Iranian anti-government protesters, and served "only (to) embolden the regime to further suppress Iranian people."

And indeed, after Westerwelle had departed, the regime in Tehran tried to use the meeting to its advantage.

The New York Times quoted Iranian Foreign Ministry official Hassan Qashqavi as saying on Sunday that Westerwelle's visit "proved the failure of European Union policy on Iran."

Brussels has in the past asked EU foreign ministers not to visit Iran. "The current visit puts an end to such a decision," Qashqavi is quoted as saying.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was informed about the trip but didn't know that it would include a meeting with Ahmadinejad, her spokesman said Monday.

"In that kind of a situation it is always a question of weighing the pros and cons," spokesman Steffen Seibert said at a regular news conference in Berlin. "Our international partners are still absolutely clear that our opinion of Iran hasn't changed at all. ... We're absolutely clear about the fact that the situation in Iran concerning human rights and political freedoms is unacceptably bad."

He added that Merkel was happy with the outcome of the trip.

Source: United Press International, February 22, 2011

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Iran suspends death penalty of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani: Top MP

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani

TEHRAN (ISNA)-An Iranian top Parliament Member Zohreh Elahian said death penalty of an Iranian woman accused of killing her husband was suspended.

"Stoning verdict of Sakineh Mohammadi- Ashtiani has not been finalized and it is suspended at the moment, but she is sentenced to 10-year jail term," said the Chairwoman of Iranian Parliament Human Rights Committee in her letter to Brazilian new President Dilma Rousseff in which she explained some points raised by Roussef on Iran.

Elahian said that stoning penalty of the Iranian woman is suspended since families of her husband have forgiven her, but she was sentenced to 10-year imprisonment.

Mohammadi-Ashtiani was sentenced to stoning due to charges of having adultery and killing her husband.

Elahian in her letter insisted that, "according to evidence the Iranian woman has betrayed to her family and killed her husband jointly with her beloved. She has confessed to her crimes during her trial process."

Elahian also added that smear campaign launched by western media seeks psychological war with political motives against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

In December, the then Brazilian president-elect expressed disappointment with her government's decision to abstain from voting on a UN resolution condemning Iran's human rights record.

The resolution passed by a vote of 80 to 44, with 57 abstentions and spearheaded by Canada, accused the Islamic Republic of human rights violations.

Source: ISNA, January 17, 2011

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani to sue German journalists

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani

(CNN) -- A woman convicted of murder and adultery and sentenced to die by stoning said Saturday she would sue the two German journalists who interviewed her son, Iran's government-backed Press TV reported.

The men, identified only as a reporter and photojournalist, were arrested in October after they interviewed the son and lawyer of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, who was convicted of adultery in 2006 and sentenced to death by stoning.

Her case has drawn sharp criticism from the international community. No date has been set for her execution.

Ashtiani told reporters in the northwestern city of Tabriz that she planned to sue the German nationals, Press TV reported. The men, who work for the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, are charged with espionage and are accused of working illegally as journalists in Iran.

Germany-based anti-stoning activist Mina Ahadi said that government and prison officials were also at the press conference.

"This regime has a history of pressuring innocent people into confessing on television. This is just another example of their propaganda," she said.

Speaking outside the prison, Ashtiani criticized her lawyers for politicizing her case and denied she had been pressured to give interviews, Press TV said.

Ashtiani's son, Sajjad Qaderzadeh, was released from jail three weeks ago on humanitarian grounds, according to Press TV.

He had served more than a month in prison for granting the interview, Press TV reported.

Qaderzadeh appeared with his mother on Saturday and similarly said that he would sue the German nationals as well as his lawyers, who asked him to do the interview, Press TV said.

The son also added that he plans to take legal action against Issa Taheri, who Press TV said murdered Qaderzadeh's father in collaboration with Ashtiani.

Germany's Bild newspaper, a sister publication of Bild am Sonntag, published an editorial Sunday criticizing the reported lawsuit plans.

"The woman who has been sentenced to death was allowed to leave her jail cell for a few hours to declare in front of western TV cameras that she would file a suit against our reporters," the editorial said.

It concludes, "Does Iran really think that a strange farce like this will improve the credibility of its justice system abroad?"

Source: CNN.com, January 2, 2010

Artists, politicians write letter to free Iran's Ashtiani

LONDON (Reuters) - More than 80 artists, academics and politicians including actor Robert Redford, British singer Sting and France's Bernard Kouchner on Monday called for the release of an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning.

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani has been accused of adultery and of being complicit in her husband's murder but her sentence to be stoned to death was suspended after an international outcry.

"Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani has suffered enough," the signatories said in an open letter to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the front page of The Times newspaper.

"We, the undersigned, call on the government of Iran to release immediately Ms Ashtiani, her son Sajad Ghaderzade, and her lawyer, Javid Houtan Kian, from incarceration," they said.

The European Union's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, the leader of Britain's Labour party Ed Miliband, American actor Robert De Niro, Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe and Nobel literature laureate Wole Soyinka are among the signatories.

Ashtiani's sentence to be stoned for adultery -- the only crime which carries that penalty under Iran's Islamic sharia law -- was suspended earlier this year, but she still faces possible execution by hanging for complicity in the murder of her husband.

The European Union has called the sentence "barbaric," the Vatican pleaded for clemency and Brazil, which has tried to intervene in Iran's standoff with the West over its nuclear programme, offered Ashtiani asylum.

While Iranian officials say Ashtiani's case is purely a matter for the judiciary, it has become an international political cause and the head of Iran's Council of Human Rights said last month there was "a good chance that her life could be saved."

Source: Reuters, Iran Focus, December 13, 2010

Woman convicted of adultery, murder appears on Iranian TV

"Ashtiani was brought back to her home
in Osku "to produce a visual account" of the
death of her husband "at the crime scene."

(CNN) -- A woman convicted of murder and adultery and sentenced to die by stoning confesses to her part in the plot to kill her husband on an Iranian television program aired Friday night.

But the family of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani has steadfastly denied that she played any role in her husband's death -- and a human rights organization that is trying to help Ashtiani called the program "a theatrical melodrama."

"There was a complete disregard for due process, bringing her out and making her a part of this theatrical melodrama is an attempt to try to convince the international public opinion that she is guilty," said Hadi Ghaemi, director of International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.

Iran has drawn sharp criticism from the international community after Ashtiani's 2010 sentence to death by stoning. Officials ranging from Pope Benedict XVI to the European Union's top foreign policy official, Catherine Ashton, urged Iran not to carry out the sentence.

"Since the international outcry, the Iranian government is tap-dancing, trying to justify executing her," said Ghaemi.

Press TV, Iran's government-backed English language station, aired the half-hour special on "Iran Today." The program included interviews with -- among others -- Ashtiani and her son.

The program brought Ashtiani back to her home in Osku "to produce a visual account" of the death of her husband "at the crime scene."

"This is highly unusual because according to Iranian authorities this is a woman who is in prison convicted of adultery and murder and now she has apparently been plucked out of her jail cell and featured in this documentary," said CNN's Reza Sayah

"This was a program designed to promote the government's position," said Sayah.

This is not the first time Ashtiani has been brought out in front of cameras for an alleged confession.

The program also condemns the public campaign to free her.

"It was a very disturbing piece, it was the Iranian government turning a judicial case into a public relations case," said Ghaemi.

Press TV's release of still photographs of Ashtiani and her son from the interview, which took place on Sunday, fueled some speculation that they had been released, but there was no evidence or confirmation to support that conjecture.

Ashtiani was convicted of adultery in 2006. She also received a 10 year prison sentence for her alleged cooperation in the plot to kill her husband.

"The key point here is not just about Ashtiani, but about abolishing stoning in Iran. That is what the Iranian government is trying to diverge attention from. They don't want to talk about abolishing stoning or Iran's human rights record," said Ghaemi.

Two German journalists who interviewed Ashtiani were arrested in October and charged with espionage. He son and lawyer also were arrested, but it was not clear on what charges.

Source: CNN.com, December 11, 2010

Iranian TV shows Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani at home

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, who was sentenced to death by stoning for adultery, was interviewed at home on Iran's state-run Press TV a few days ago, prompting human rights campaigners to erroneously celebrate her release.

Human rights campaigners condemned an Iranian television programme, aired tonight [December 10, 2010], which showed Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the woman sentenced to death by stoning, at her home apparently discussing her part in the murder of her husband.

Despite speculation that she had been released, Iran's state news agency confirmed that Mohammadi Ashtiani remains in prison.

Her jailed son also appeared in the programme, in which he played the role of his father in a reconstruction.

Iran's state-run Press TV, said it had been arranged with Iran's judicial authorities to accompany his mother to her house to record her recounting the crime and that she had agreed to do so.

"There are always two sides to a story and sometimes more," said the voice of a narrator who described Mohammadi Ashtiani as a "prostitute" and "adulterous woman".

In what was portrayed as a 'confession' Mohammadi Ashtiani was filmed saying that one of her husband's relatives, Isa Saharkhiz, asked her to render her husband unconscious before he could electrocute him. "We planned to kill my husband," she said, before showing in a reconstruction how she made him unconscious with an injection.

Curiously, Press TV also broadcast footage of Saharkhiz, who remains free. It said he had not agreed to be interviewed but failed to explain why he remains at liberty.

The channel also said Mohammadi Ashtiani's case remained open. It broadcast an interview with Mohammad Javad Larijani, an adviser to the Iranian supreme leader, in which he made previously reported comments that there was a "good chance" that her life could yet be spared.

However, hopes that she had been freed after photographs emerged of her at her home before the broadcast were dashed. The Italian foreign minister, Franco Frattini, and Maureen Harper, the wife of the Canadian prime minister, were among those who had welcomed unconfirmed reports of Mohammadi Ashtiani's release. Based on the photographs, several newspapers around the world also wrongly reported that she had been freed.

Earlier today Mousa Khalil-Elahi, a judiciary official in Tabriz, confirmed to Iran's state news agency, IRNA, that Mohammadi Ashtiani had not been freed. Khalil-Elahi was quoted by IRNA as saying: "Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is in prison and the reports about her release are false." He added: "There's no development in her case and she is still kept in Tabriz prison. She is in good health."Mohammadi Ashtiani has already appeared on state TV three times, but activists say her apparent confessions have been coerced.

Clare Bracey of Amnesty said: "International standards for fair trial, to which Iran is a state party, guarantee the right not to be forced to incriminate oneself or to confess guilt. The judiciary is in charge of this case and would have to have given permission for such an interview to take place. To organise a televised 'confession' midway through a judicial review of a serious case – where a woman's life hangs in the balance – makes a mockery of Iran's legal system."

She added: "That judicial review [for Mohammadi Ashtiani] is further hampered by the fact that Sakineh's son and lawyer have been detained. If Sajad Qaderzadeh and Javid Houtan Kian are being held solely for peacefully highlighting Sakineh's case, they should be released immediately and unconditionally."

Mohammadi Ashtiani's son Sajad was arrested in October along with her lawyer, Houtan Kian, and two German journalists who were detained after trying to interview her family.

Mina Ahadi of the International Committee against Stoning (Icas) said in reaction: "It is very, very sad for me to see that Iran has forced Sakineh's son, Sajad, to play in the role of his dead father in the reconstruction of the murder. This is really outrageous."

Houtan Kian also appeared in front of the camera claiming that he and Sajad had been taking orders from Mina Ahadi, an Iranian human rights activist who has publicised Mohammadi Ashtiani's case internationally.

Mohammadi Ashtiani was convicted in May 2006 of conducting an illicit relationship outside marriage. She was given a sentence of 99 lashes, but her case was reopened when a court in Tabriz suspected her of murdering her husband. She was acquitted, but the adultery charge was reviewed and a death penalty handed down on the basis of "judge's knowledge" – a loophole that allows for subjective judicial rulings where no conclusive evidence is present.

Embarrassed by international condemnation of the stoning sentence, Iran has tried to distract attention from Mohammadi Ashtiani's initial charge of adultery by introducing new charges against her and portraying her as a murderer.

Iran rarely carries out stonings. It executed 388 people last year, more than any other country apart from China, according to Amnesty International. Most were hanged. Ten Iranian women and four men are on death row awaiting execution by stoning.

In Pictures: Iranian TV shows Ashtiani at home. Click here to view the photo gallery

Source: The Guardian, December 11, 2010

Iran Denies Freeing Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani

'Photographs apparently showing Sakineh
at home with her son appeared in the media.'

TEHRAN — Iran denied reports on Friday that it has freed a woman sentenced to death by stoning after human rights campaigners stoked confusion by releasing unconfirmed reports to the press.

A report Friday on the Web site of Iran’s state-run English language news channel Press TV (or see story below) said reports of the release of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, 43, were false and were part of a “vast publicity campaign by Western media.”

On Thursday night, foreign news reports citing a group supporting her based in Germany said that Iran’s authorities had released Ms. Ashtiani, along with her son and her lawyer .

“We have got news from Iran that they are free,” Mina Ahadi, spokeswoman for the International Campaign Against Stoning, was quoted as saying.

The unconfirmed report prompted foreign governments to welcome the news with Maureen Harper, the wife of the Canadian prime minister, and Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini both issuing statements.

The news report also ran images showing Ashtiani standing in the doorway of her home in a village in Iran’s northwestern Azarbaijan region and speaking with her son, Sajjad Ghaderzadeh, in an informal setting, prompting further speculation that she had been released.

The photographs have subsequently been revealed to be stills from a new documentary program, due to be aired on Press TV, which will show Ms. Ashtiani guiding a camera crew around the home where she and an accomplice allegedly plotted to murder her husband in 2006. She was originally sentenced to death by stoning for adultery but that sentenced was suspended and authorities have reframed the charges against her as murder.

“Press TV has arranged with Iran’s judicial authorities to follow Ashtiani to her house to produce a visual recount of the crime at the murder scene,” Friday’s report on the channel’s Web site said.

Iran’s latest attempt to counter the international media campaign against Ms. Ashtiani’s execution is its first to directly address foreign audiences on the issue. On two previous occasions, Iranian state broadcasting has aired confessions by Ms. Ashtiani as well as denunciations by her of human rights campaigners who have joined her cause.

“They are taking my side unnecessarily, I do not consider them legitimate at all,” Ms. Ashtiani said in comments aired on domestic television in November which her lawyers have said were made under pressure during detention.

Two German nationals who entered Iran intending to interview Ms. Ashtiani’s son remain in detention more than two months after being arrested by Iranian security officers in October. The two, said to be a reporter and a photographer working for Germany’s Bild am Sonntag newspaper, have been charged with spying after confessing to having entered Iran without proper journalistic accreditation, Iranian judicial officials say.

Source: The New York Times, December 10, 2010

Iran TV denies condemned woman free

Press TV denies reports that Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, sentenced to death by stoning, has been freed by regime.

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the Iranian woman whose sentence of death by stoning sparked global outrage, has not been been freed from jail, Iran's English language Press TV has said.

A German campaign group said on Thursday that Ashtiani had been released after photographs apparently showing her at home with her son appeared in the media.

But state-run Press TV said on Friday (or see story below) that Ashtinai had been taken to the house to carry out a reconstruction of the alleged murder of her husband, and was not free.

"Contrary to a vast publicity campaign by Western media that confessed murderer Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani has been released, a broadcast production team with the Iran-based Press TV has arranged with Iran's judicial authorities to follow Ashtiani to her house to produce a visual recount of the crime at the murder scene," Press TV said on its website.

The channel said it would air the programme, which includes interviews with people involved in case, at 2035GMT on Friday.

Campaigners wrongfooted

The news will come as a blow to campaigners who were celebrating Ashtiani's release. When photographs of her at home emerged on Thursday, campaigners hailed them as evidence of a "historic" victory.

Patty Debonitas, a spokesperson for the International Committee Against Stoning (ICAS), one of the main groups which campaigned on behalf of Ashtiani, told Al Jazeera that the campaign had been a success.

"It's a historical success because the international outcry worked," Debonitas said on Thursday. But it appears that the group was wrongfooted by the photographs.

Ghanbar Naderi, an Iranian journalist said that the fact that Ashtiani was allowed out of prison at all could be seen as a positive development.

"She has been released temporarily to retell her story and reenact the events that led to the murder of her husband," he said. She hasn't been released for good - she only helped a documentary crew to make a documentary about her case. This might be good news, because she might be released."

Ashitani has been sentenced to death twice. The first court decision to hang her for the murder of her husband was commuted to a 10-year jail sentence by an appeals court in 2007.

But she was later condemned to die by stoning for adultery, a sentence which was upheld by another appeals court.

The European Union called has called Ashtiani's sentence "barbaric," while the Brazilian government offered her asylum.

Source: Al Jazeera, December 10, 2010


Iranian TV: 'Ashtiani recounts murder on Press TV'

An Iranian woman convicted of murder and adultery has accompanied a team of TV production group to her house to recount details of killing her husband at the crime scene.

Contrary to a vast publicity campaign by Western media that confessed murderer Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani has been released, a team of broadcast production team with the Iran-based Press TV has arranged with Iran's judicial authorities to follow Ashtiani to her house to produce a visual recount of the crime at the murder scene.

Press TV's "Iran Today" program, will shed light on the highways and byways of the murder account with multiple interviews with people and individuals involved in the case.

Sajjad Asgharzadeh, Sakineh's son, and her lwayer Hootan Kian are among the individuals that have spoken to the production team.

Earlier on Thursday, some western media outlets claimed that Ashtiani has been released from prison.

Iran has cited political motives behind the Western propaganda effort regarding the legal ruling against Mohammadi-Ashtiani, arguing that the publicity scheme is part of a Western campaign to undermine the Islamic Republic establishment.

Ashtiani has been found guilty of murdering her husband, Ibrahim Asgharzadeh, in collusion with another man, Isa Taheri, whom she had an affair with before the murder.

Press TV's "Iran Today" program on Ashtiani's case is scheduled to go on air on Friday December 10 at 20:35 GMT and will be aired again on Saturday December 11 at 01:35 GMT, 06:35 GMT and 14:35 GMT.

Source: PressTV, December 10, 2010


Reports of latest Ashtiani TV 'confession' in Iran condemned

Amnesty International today condemned reports that Iran's state-controlled Press TV will tonight broadcast a new "confession" by an Iranian woman who faces possible execution by stoning or hanging.

"If reports are accurate that tonight's broadcast will contain another televised 'confession' from Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, its potential impact on her case should not be underestimated," said Philip Luther, Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International.

"If the authorities are seeking to use this 'confession' to try to construct a new case against her, for a crime that she's already been tried and sentenced for, we would condemn this in the strongest terms."

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was sentenced to a 10-year prison term in 2006 for the murder of her husband, which her lawyer has said was subsequently reduced to 5 years for "complicity" in the murder.

She was also sentenced to death by stoning for "adultery while married". Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is held in Tabriz Prison, East Azerbaijan province, awaiting the outcome of a judicial review of her stoning sentence.

According to media reports a production team from Press TV collected Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani from prison, along with her son Sajjad Qaderzadeh, who is also currently detained, and took them to her former home to produce a "visual recount of the crime at the murder scene", apparently for a "documentary".

International standards for fair trial guarantee the right not to be forced to incriminate oneself or to confess guilt.

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani's current lawyer Javid Houtan Kiyan, arrested and detained along with Sajjad Qaderzadeh for campaigning for her life to be spared, is also understood to have been interviewed by Press TV for the programme.

"It appears that the Iranian authorities are using the Iranian media as a tool to portray her as a dangerous criminal who deserves to be executed. Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani must not be executed by any means, and if she continues to be held solely on the grounds of consensual sexual relations, the Iranian authorities must release her," said Philip Luther.

"At the same time, the international community, which has rightly expressed serious concerns about this case, must also step up the attention it gives to the other ongoing and very serious human rights violations in Iran. As Student Day was celebrated in Iran on Tuesday this week, student activists Milad Assadi, Behareh Hedayat, Majid Tavakkoli, Majid Dorri and Zia Nabavi were all serving lengthy prison sentences imposed solely for their peaceful activism. They and hundreds of other prisoners of conscience in Iran must be released immediately and unconditionally."

Source: Associated Press, December 10, 2010

Iran executes Shahla Jahed

Shahla Jahed

Shahla Jahed, convicted of murdering the wife of an Iranian footballer, was hanged before morning call to prayer, reports say

An Iranian woman convicted of murdering the wife of her football player lover was hanged in Iran early today, state news agencies reported.

"A few minutes ago, Shahla Jahed was hanged in the courtyard of Tehran's Evin prison after 3,063 days of being kept in prison," the Fars news agency said.

Islamic Republic Student Agency (ISNA) said that Jahed was hanged at 5am, in the presence of the murdered wife's family. According to Iranian law, her life could have been spared if the family of the murdered woman pardoned her. Iran executes those sentenced to death before the Islamic morning call for prayer.

Jahed was found guilty of the 2002 murder of Laleh Saharkhizan, the wife of Naser Mohammadkhani, a football legend who rose to fame in the mid-1980s and coached Tehran's Persepolis club.

Jahed, who was held in Tehran's notorious Evin prison for nine years, was sentenced to death on the basis of her confession, which she later repeatedly retracted at her public trial.

Her execution is a defeat for human rights activists around the world who campaigned in the past nine years to stop Iran from carrying out her sentence. Last night, Amnesty International and several human rights campaigners called on Iran to stop her execution.

In 2008, the then chief of Iran's judiciary, Ayatollah Hashemi Shahroudi, ordered a fresh investigation and did not sanction her execution to be carried out. But today Iran defied the international and domestic outcry by hanging her.

Activists in Iran widely suspect that Jahed was forced to confess to the stabbing. Karim Lahidji, the president of the Iranian League for Human Rights, described her as "a victim of a misogynous society" and said: "Shahla Jahed has never had a fair trial in Iran and has always insisted that she is innocent. Although Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani's case is about adultery, her case is similar to that of Shahla Jahed because both are victims of the flaws of the Iranian judicial system."

He added: "We are approaching the Human Rights Day on 10 December and once again Iran is executing another woman. That's a clear signal that Iran wants to challenge the world on human rights issues."

Following the murder, Jahed was arrested as the prime suspect, but she refused to talk for nearly a year. Mohammadkhani was also imprisoned for several months on charges of complicity but was finally released after the authorities said Jahed had confessed to committing the crime alone.

Jahed told the judge at her public trial: "If you want to kill me, go ahead … if you send me back there [where her confessions were taken], I'll confess again and not only will I confess to killing her but I'd also confess that I killed those who have been killed by others." She then repeatedly reiterated that she was innocent and that she had not committed any crime.

Mohammadkhani was in Germany when the killing happened, but it emerged later that he was "temporarily married" to Jahed, a practice allowed under Shia Islam. Temporary marriage or "sigheh", as it is known in Iran, allows men to take on wives for as little as a few hours to years on the condition that any offspring are legally and financially provided for. Critics of the tradition see it as legalised prostitution.

Shahla Jahed's case drew huge attention when Iran took the unprecedented decision of holding her trial in public.

In 2005 a documentary about her case and her affairs with the footballer showed footage from her public trial. The documentary, Red Card, was subsequently banned by Iran.

Source: The Guardian, December 1, 2010

Member of European Parliament condemns 'inhumane' execution of Iranian woman

Senior Greens MEP Barbara Lochbihler has condemned the decision of the Iranian authorities to execute the "temporary wife" of an Iranian footballer for the murder of the man's permanent wife.

"The hanging of Khadijeh 'Shahla' Jahed is an act of inhumane and cruel punishment, which should be condemned in the strongest possible terms," she said.

Khadijeh Jahed, known as "Shahla", was reportedly executed by hanging on Wednesday in Tehran.

Amnesty International suggested she might have been wrongly convicted and had called for the punishment to be halted.

She "confessed" to the killing in pre-trial detention after 11 months in jail but withdrew her "confession" in court.

The head of the judiciary in Iran stated in early 2008 that there had been "procedural flaws" and that it was necessary to reinvestigate her case.

Speaking before the reported execution, Amnesty director for the Middle East and North Africa Malcolm Smart said, "Shahla Jahed must be spared execution. The death penalty represents the ultimate denial of human rights."

"As well, in this case, there are good reasons to suggest that she may have been wrongly convicted."

Amnesty said Jahed, who had contracted a temporary marriage with Nasser Mohammad Khani, a former striker for the Iranian national team, was convicted of stabbing to death her husband's permanent wife eight years ago.

In the Shiite faith that is the majority religion in Iran, men and women can marry for an agreed period of time. Afterwards, the marriage is null and void, although it can be renewed.

Men can have up to four permanent wives, and any number of temporary wives. Women can only be married to one man at a time.

Smart said there are "strong grounds to believe that Shahla Jahed did not receive a fair trial, and may have been coerced into making a 'confession' during months of detention in solitary confinement.

"She retracted that confession at her trial but the court chose to accept it as evidence against her."

Lochbihler, a Green MEP and chair of parliament's Iran delegation, was swift to respond, saying the Iranian authorities had "ignored the protests of many activists, politicians and human rights groups against her execution."

She added, "It is truly sad that Iran has become the country with the highest number of executions per capita.

"There are still hundreds of Iranians on death row, waiting for their execution in terrible prison conditions. The Iranian authorities should not allow this situation to continue and should cancel all scheduled executions."

Source: TheParliament.com, December 1, 2010

Related coverage: "Iranian Regime Commits Another Murder, Former Case Detective Speaks Out on Shahla Jahed", Persian2English, December 2, 2010

Amnesty International: Shahla Jahed, the Iranian footballer's wife, was executed on 1 December 2010 in Evin Prison, Tehran, Iran

Shahla Jahed, the Iranian footballer's wife, was executed on 1 December 2010 in Evin Prison. She was sentenced to death for the alleged murder of her husband's permanent wife. Khadijeh Jahed, known as "Shahla", was hanged at dawn in the courtyard of Evin Prison, Tehran.

The family of her husband's permanent wife did not pardon her and, according to a report by the Iranian Students' News Agency, the victim's brother kicked away the stool from her feet. In Iran, a convicted murderer has no right to seek pardon or commutation from the state. This is in violation of Article 6(4) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a state party. The family of a murder victim has the right either to insist on execution, or to pardon the killer and receive financial compensation (diyeh).

Shahla Jahed's mother lamenting outside
Tehran's Evin prison after her daughter's
execution. Source: Persian2English

Abdolsamad Khorramshahi, Shahla Jahed's lawyer, attended her execution and told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran afterwards: "I just can't believe it. I'm not feeling well. Shahla just kept crying; she didn't say anything. I went forward and told her to talk, but she only cried. The victim's family did not give their consent until the last minute. All the people who were there asked them to forgive her, but unfortunately they didn't accept. Nasser Mohammad-khani was there, too, and said nothing."

Shahla Jahed, who had contracted a temporary marriage with Nasser Mohammad-khani, a former striker for the Iranian national football team and former manager of a team in Tehran, was accused of stabbing to death Laleh Saharkhizan, her husband's permanent wife, on 9 October 2002. Under Iranian law, men and women can marry either permanently or temporarily. In a temporary marriage, men and women can commit to be married for an agreed period of time, on payment of an agreed sum of money to the woman, after which the marriage is null and void. Men can have up to four permanent wives, and any number of temporary wives. Women can only be married to one man at a time.

Shahla Jahed was initially sentenced to death by Branch 1154 of Tehran General Court in June 2004. She had "confessed" to the killing during 11 months of pre-trial detention, but withdrew her "confession" in court, saying, "Everyone knows the conditions under which I confessed," leading to fears her "confession" may have been coerced, a common occurrence in Iran. Nasser Mohammad-khani, abroad at the time of the murder, was himself initially suspected of complicity in the murder and detained for some months, but was later released after Shahla Jahed "confessed" to the murder. She was also sentenced to three years in prison.

Shahla Jahed's sentence was upheld by Branch 15 of the Supreme Court. Shahla Jahed's lawyer requested a review of the execution order and, in November 2005, the then Head of the Judiciary ordered a stay of execution so that the case could be re-examined. The death sentence was upheld in September 2006, but was again overturned in early 2008 and a fresh investigation was ordered. Shahla Jahed was sentenced to death for a second time in February 2009 by Branch 1147 of the General Court. On 13 September 2010, she wrote to the current Head of the Judiciary, Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani, asking for a final decision in her case. By 6 November 2010 her death sentence had been sent "for implementation". On 16 November 2010, reports said her execution was set for 1 December 2010. On 30 November 2010 her lawyer said he had received official notice that his client was to be executed the next day.

Shahla Jahed spent over eight years in prison. Amnesty International campaigned for Shahla Jahed's death sentence to be overturned from 2005 (see Urgent Action UA 283/05 and updates and UA 243/10, 23 November 2010, http://amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/105/2010/en ).

Source: Amnesty International, December 3, 2010