Reyhaneh Jabbari executed in Iran for murder of 'her attempted rapist'
Execution came despite an international campaign calling for a reprieve
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Your support makes all the difference.Iran has executed Reyhaneh Jabbari for killing a man she says had tried to rape her despite an international campaign calling for a reprieve.
Ms Jabbari’s mother Shole Pakravan confirmed her death to BBC Persian. She said her 26-year-old daughter was hanged in a Tehran prison and she was due to see her daughter’s body at the cemetery today.
Her death was described as a "travesty" by Amnesty International.
Amnesty said Ms Pakravan received a call from prison authorities on Friday, where she was told to visit her daughter for the final time before her execution at dawn on Saturday. She was granted an hour with Ms Jabbari before being made to leave.
Ms Jabbari was arrested in 2007 for the killing of Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi, a former employee of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence who she said tried to sexually abuse her.
She was sentenced to death by a Tehran court in 2009 and her execution verdict was upheld by Iran’s Supreme Court. Her case drew international outcry and sparked a petition urging her release, which collected over 240,000 signatures.
The court ruling says Ms Jabbari, 26, stabbed Sarbandi in the back in 2007 after purchasing a knife two days earlier.
It says the execution was carried out after Sarbandi's family refused to pardon Jabbari or accept blood money.
The campaign and world-wide media attention granted her a last minute stay of execution on 30 September, although the reason for the postponement was never officially confirmed.
Amnesty understands Ms Jabbari admitted to stabbing the man once from the back but said another man killed Mr Abdolali Sarbandi. The group said her claim is believed to have never been properly investigated.
Raha Bahreini, Amnesty’s researcher on Iran, told The Independent: "Like many others, we are absolutely shocked by this travesty of justice. Reyhaneh’s execution is a tragic moment for many people in Iran and for the members of the international community hoping for different outcome.
"Her case personifies the outrage of many in Iran and across the globe over the use of the death penalty, which is a despicable, cruel and inhumane punishment.
"Reports and online petitions have been crying for her retrial because of the many unanswered questions hanging over her case. But at the end they once again allowed the execution and justified this by saying it lies in the hands of the family of the deceased to make the decision to spare her."
Britain has said it is "concerned and saddened" by the execution of an Iranian woman for killing a man she claimed was trying to sexually assault her.
Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood said there were "questions around due process" in the case of 26-year-old Reyhaneh Jabbari, who was hanged in a Tehran prison.
He also warned that such actions would not help Iran revive relations with the rest of the world.
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