Kurdish woman in danger of execution after unfair trial: Amnesty
TEHRAN, Iran (Kurdistan24) – A 22-year-old Kurdish woman, convicted of murdering an abusive husband at age 17, is in imminent danger of execution, warned Amnesty International (AI) on Tuesday.
Zeinab Sekaanvand Lokran, married at age 15, confessed to stabbing her husband at age 17 after months of being physically and verbally abused by him.
She later retracted her confession, saying her husband’s brother who had repeatedly raped her committed the murder and promised if she accepted the responsibility, he would pardon her.
According to Islamic laws, the family of the victim has the power to forgive the perpetrator or accept financial compensation instead.
“The court failed to investigate Zeinab Sekaanvand’s statements and, instead, relied on ‘confessions’ she had made without a lawyer present to issue a verdict,” AI stated.
“Although she was under 18-years-old at the time of the crime, the court failed to apply juvenile sentencing provisions in Iran’s 2013 Islamic Penal Code and order a forensic report to assess her ‘mental growth and maturity’ at the time of the crime,” Amnesty added.
Iran had the highest rate of execution per capita in the world in 2015.
In August, 22 international human rights organizations condemned Iran’s execution of Kurdish political prisoners and prisoners of conscience.
Iran reportedly executed at least 48 Kurdish detainees in the month of August but admitted to only 24 of those.
In a joint statement, some western Kurdish and Iranian rights organizations urged Iran to stop the death penalty immediately and provide prisoners with fair and public retrials.
According to the database Iran Prison Atlas, 915 political prisoners and prisoners of conscience are in detention as of August 2016 – 390 of whom are Kurds.
“Politically-motivated executions are the gravest violation of the right to freedom of expression, and foster a climate of fear,” the statement read.
Activists also stated the vast majority of prisoners sentenced to “moharebeh” are Kurds.
Moharebeh meaning “enmity against God” is a crime punishable by death in Iran.
Meanwhile, nearly all executions in the ethnic regions of the country are carried out secretly or not announced by official Iranian media.
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany