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On Monday, a UN human rights monitor urged Iran to stop the execution of an Iranian Reyhaneh Jabbari, who allegedly murdered a former intelligence official, saying that the trial was deeply flawed. Jabbari has always maintained that she acted in self-defence against a sexual assault. The case raises several concerns because of Jabbari’s alleged forced confession and the errors made by the court in not considering all evidence available.
According to UN human rights monitor and former Foreign Minister of the Maldives Ahmed Shaheed, “the Iranian authorities should review her case and refer it back to court for a re-trial, ensuring the defendant due process rights guaranteed under both Iranian law and international law”. Shaheed has been tasked by the UN to monitor Iran, and has regularly argued with Iran over its human rights record. On Monday, Iranian Prosecutor General Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie called reports of Jabbari’s execution within the next few days as “pure speculation”.
Her lawyer Abdolsamad Khoramshahi told the official IRNA news agency that an execution date has not been finalized yet, but “her sentence will be carried out within a month if the victim’s family does not grant mercy”. Jabbari was an interior designer before she was sentenced to death for the pre-meditated murder of former employee of the Iranian Intelligence Ministry Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi in 2007.
In his statement, Shaheed said that “reliable sources” had confirmed that Sarbandi offered to hire her to redesign his office. He arranged to take her to his office, but instead took her to a home, where he would sexually assault her. She then stabbed him the shoulder, fled for her safety, and called an ambulance for her alleged attacker, Shaheed said. He also pointed out evidence, including a medical report indicating the presence of a tranquilizer in the glass of juice at the crime scene, indicating a plan for sexual assault. He added that if the allegations are true, Jabbari “may have been doubly victimized, first by her attacker, and then by the judicial system, which is supposed to protect victims of intended and actual sexual and physical assault”.
