Save Nazanin Mahabad Fatehi
I was asked to post about a particular item by someone who reads my blog. I’ve been asked before and sometimes I will and sometimes I won’t. After reading the information about Nazanin Mahabad Fatehi I felt that this was a very important topic and needed my support.
tylonius over at beterwas wrote:
On January 3, 2006, 18-year-old Fatehi was sentenced to death for murder by a court in Iran after she fatally stabbed one of three men who attempted to rape her and her 16-year-old niece, in a park in Karaj (a suburb of Tehran), in March 2005.
Nazanin Afshin-Jam has released a documentary titled The Tale of Two Nazanins. It features Fatehi’s family in Iran and an emotional phone conversation with her from prison. It’s heartbreaking to watch.
Fatehi’s re-trial is set for January 10th.
Nazanin’s story is tragic. She and her niece had traveled to a park with two male friends. At the park they were approached by three men who harassed Nazanin and her niece. The following do not seem to be in question. The men started to harass and threaten the four teenagers. They verbally tried to humiliate Nazanin and then one of them tore off her headdress and Monteau (Islamic dress). A scuffle occurred and Nazanin stabbed one of them causing his death.
Nazanin has accepted responsibility for her actions but claimed that the death was not intentional. She has been tried and convicted of causing the young man’s “intentional” death.
The two teen boys with Nazanin and her niece appear to have been trying to make themselves sound braver than they were. They both stated that the three men verbally humiliated and threatened Nazanin and the boys felt threatened enough to try to run away. However, according to the boys, they still managed to see the scuffle that they were leaving the girls to fight on their own.
Based on their testimony, Nazanin was convicted and later sentenced to death. After being convicted of killing the 23 year old man, the 18 year old Nazanin was allowed to give testimony about the events. In her testimony she and her niece were threatened with rape after their male companions ran away from the men threatening the group. She said she was forced to the ground and her clothes were torn off, only then did she stab the dead man in the hand. He grabbed her as she and her niece attempted to get away and that was when she stabbed him one more time, killing him.
After her testimony, the judge told her that Nazanin’s father hated her and was willing to have her killed. He also said that Nazanin was not a virgin and implied that it was wrong for any girl to carry a knife for self-defense. Only after this spectacle was Nazanin’s defense allowed to present their case.
It does not appear that Nazanin’s cousin was allowed to testify. This shouldn’t be surprising since in Iran’s legal system a woman’s life and testimony is worth half of a man’s. In other words, Nazanin’s female cousin’s testimony was unimportant to the court. The accusations about Nazanin’s virginity were made because it is illegal to execute a virgin. Iranian law gets around that by having the female raped the night before the execution.
There’s an online petition to help Nazanin Fatehi. Please go there and sign it.
jan:
I had a long discussion about middle eastern justice with an exchange student just last week. This is not at all unusual according to her.
5 January 2007, 9:43 pmLaura:
Sadly that is true.
Procrastinateur:
Signed the petition, thanks for highlighting this case.
7 January 2007, 10:50 pmTylonius:
Nazanin Update: Judge Rules Killing Unintentional
From Kristian Hvesser :
The continuation of Nazanin’s re-trial took place today. It was delayed from 10:30AM to 12:30PM, in part due to the fact that so many people showed up in support of Nazanin’s campaign. They were required to move court rooms. The international committee against execution says that normally in a case like this, 10-15 people show up. But today, 200-300 came to support Nazanin and there were many news reporters present. Nazanin’s two defense attorneys proceeded with their defense.
After much discussions, the four judges unanimously determined that the lower court decision in January of 2006 was wrong and Nazanin killing the would-be rapist was not intentional. The defense attorneys are hopeful that the final decision on the fate of Nazanin will be announced in the next few days.
This is a very large step forward for Nazanin, and it brings great hope that she will avoid a new death sentence. Maybe she can even be free! This would not have happened without support from people all around the world, so thank you to all of you! But please don’t rest yet. Until Nazanin walks out of the prison gate, she will continue to need our support.
10 January 2007, 5:39 pmAnastacia:
I signed the petition a couple of days ago but I’m leaving a reply because I’m so happy that people are spreading the news about this young girl. I hope that she gets out of prison and that she won’t get a death sentence. She has my prayers.
11 January 2007, 6:00 pm