From Plugged in February 2006
- Teen Gets Death Sentence for Resisting Rape
Nazanin admitted stabbing to death one of three men who attempted to rape her and her 16-year-old niece in a park in Karaj in March 2005. She was 17 at the time.
According to reports in the Iranian newspaper, E’temaad, the teenager
told the court that three men had approached her and her niece, forced them
to the ground and tried to rape them. Seeking to defend her niece and herself,
Nazanin stabbed one man in the hand with a knife and, when the men continued
to pursue them, stabbed another attacker in the chest.
“I wanted to defend myself and my niece. I did not want to kill that
boy,” she told the court. “At the heat of the moment I did not
know what to do because no one came to our help.” Her sentence is
subject to review by the Court of Appeal, and if upheld, to confirmation
by the Supreme Court.
Also in Iran, 19-year-old Delara Darabi, was sentenced to death in the city of Rasht for a murder committed when she was 17. Though she denied the killing, the sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court at the beginning of January. Her lawyer is reportedly appealing the decision.
The Persian language news service Aftab reported that Darabi and a 19-year-old youth, Amir Hossein, killed a woman after they broke into a house intending to commit burglary. Darabi initially confessed to the murder, but subsequently retracted her confession, stating that her accomplice had talked her into admitting responsibility so he could escape execution. He wrongfully believed she would not be executed because she was under 18. She also said that she was under the influence of sedatives during the burglary.
Amnesty International is calling on the Iranian Government to take immediate steps to end the death penalty for child offenders. The government has reportedly been considering banning the death penalty for offenders under 18. Despite this, the number of child offenders executed has risen over the past two years.
In January 2005, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child urged Iran
to immediately stay all executions of people convicted of crimes committed
when they were under 18, and to abolish the death penalty in such cases.
Amnesty International is calling on the Iranian authorities to prevent the
executions of Delara Darabi and Nazanin and other child offenders, and to
take urgent steps to abolish the death penalty for all child offenders.
Take
action to end juvenile executions in Iran. »
