NICOSIA: Iranian authorities executed on Friday a 23-year-old woman convicted of a murder allegedly committed when she was still a teenager, Amnesty International said, expressing outrage over the execution.
Delara Darabi was found guilty of murdering a relative during a burglary she carried out along with a friend at the age of 17.
“Amnesty International is outraged at the execution of Delara Darabi, and particularly at the news that her lawyer was not informed,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty’s deputy chief for the Middle East and North Africa.
The execution went ahead on Friday morning at the Rasht central prison, northwest of Tehran, “despite the legal requirement that he (the lawyer) should receive 48 hours’ notice,” she said.
“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,” Sahraoui added.
Amnesty said that Darabi who “developed a significant talent as a painter” during her imprisonment, was the second person executed this year “after being convicted of a crime she was alleged to have committed while still under 18.” She was “executed despite her having been given a two-month stay of execution by the head of the judiciary on April 19,” it said.
“This indicates that even decisions by the head of the judiciary carry no weight and are disregarded in the provinces,” said Sahraoui.
According to Amnesty, Darabi initially confessed to the murder of a relative in 2003 “believing she could save her boyfriend from the gallows, but later retracted her confession.” “Amnesty International does not consider her trial to have been fair, as the courts later refused to consider new evidence which the lawyer said would have proved she could not have committed the murder,” it added.
