Sign petition to save Nazanin, who may be put to death for killing her rapist

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http://www.petitiononline.com/Nazanin/petition-sign.html?

 

The Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi

Annan,The United Nations High Commissioner of Human

Rights, Louise Arbour,The Leader of the Islamic

Republic of Iran Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, and The

Head of the Judiciary of IRI Ayatollah Mahmoud Has

 

 

We, the undersigned, are deeply concerned for

18-year-old Nazanin who faces execution by the Islamic

Republic of Iran.

 

On January 3, 2006, 18-year-old Nazanin was sentenced

to death for murder by court in Iran after she

reportedly admitted fatally stabbing 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.

She was seventeen at the time. Her sentence is subject

to review by the Court of Appeal, and if upheld, to

confirmation by the Supreme Court.

 

According to reports in the Iranian newspaper

E’temaad, Nazanin told the court that three men had

approached her and her niece, forced them to the

ground and attempted to rape them. Seeking to defend

her niece and herself, Nazanin stabbed one man in the

hand with a knife that she possessed. As the men

continued their attack, she stabbed another of the men

in the chest, which eventually caused his death. She

reportedly told the court “I wanted to defend myself

and my niece. I did not want to kill that boy. At the

heat of the moment I did not know what to do because

no one came to our help”. She was nevertheless

sentenced to the maximum punishment possible under the

law, death by hanging.

 

Urgent action is needed to help save a young life

whose only crime was an attempt to defend herself.

Nazanin and many like her are caught between two

undesirable options. On one hand, Iranian Penal Code

severely limits the possibility of using

‘self-defense’ as a legitimate defence to aggression.

On the other hand, if Nazanin had allowed the rape to

take place, she could still be imprisoned, flogged or

stoned for having sex outside of marriage unless four

male witnesses to the actual rape would testify on her

behalf.

 

Moreover, Iran is a signatory to the International

Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the

Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and is

therefore under obligation NOT to impose the death

penalty on those under the age of 18. Nevertheless,

Amnesty International has recorded 18 executions of

child offenders in Iran since 1990. In 2005 alone, at

least eight executions of child offenders were

recorded. Nazanin was 17 years old at the time of

commission of the offense and therefore Iran is in

breach.

 

We urge that the death sentence imposed on Nazanin be

commuted immediately;

We urge the authorities to carry out a thorough review

of the case, in particular the limits of self-defense

as detailed in the Iranian Penal Code;

We urge the authorities to ensure that the victim’s

family is made aware of its right, under Islamic law,

to request a pardon of the condemned;

We appeal to the Islamic Republic of Iran to honor its

commitment to the ICCPR and ICC, to which they are a

state party.

 

Sincerely,

 

The Undersigned

 

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