Iran set to execute woman convicted of killing her rapist, Amnesty International says

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Iran set to execute woman convicted of killing her rapist, Amnesty International says
J.Post 25/10/14/

The human rights organization Amnesty International is urging global intervention to stop the imminent execution of a woman in Iran who was sentenced to death for killing her rapist. Reyhaneh Jabbari, 26, is scheduled to be put to death at dawn on Saturday, according to Amnesty. In 2007, Jabbari was arrested for killing Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi, a former employee of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence. Jabbari claimed that she was defending herself against Sarbandi’s sexual advances.

She was given the death penalty by a Tehran court in 2009. The Iranian supreme court denied her appeals against the sentence. She was originally scheduled to be put to death last month, but Iranian authorities postponed the move at the last minute, perhaps due to the international attention Jabbari’s case has attracted.

“The authorities must act now to stop her execution,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, the deputy director of Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa division. “Instead of repeatedly rescheduling Reyhaneh Jabbari’s execution date, the Iranian judiciary should order a re-trial that complies with international standards for fair trial without recourse to the death penalty