A 26-year-old Iranian woman was hanged Saturday after being convicted of murdering her employer, who she said was attempting to sexually assault her.
BBC: "Reyhaneh Jabbari was hanged at dawn in a Tehran prison despite a local and international campaign calling for a reprieve."
One of those campaigns was lead by Amnesty International. The human rights organization called Jabbari's death "another bloody stain on Iran’s human rights record. ... Once again Iran has insisted on applying the death penalty despite serious concerns over the fairness of the trial.”
A little bit of back story — Jabbari said she did stab her boss Morteza Sarbandi after he attempted to assault her. Voice of America reports during the trial there was testimony claiming Jabbari told a friend she was planning to kill her boss and bought a knife just two days before the incident. But it's unclear who gave that testimony.
Jabbari was sentenced to execution under Iran's "eye for an eye" judicial principle. The U.S. has condemned the country's decision, claiming "There were serious concerns with the fairness of the trial and the circumstances surrounding this case, including reports of confessions made under severe duress."
Amnesty International says that included torture. It also claims the court ignored Jabbari's claim that a third person was involved in the stabbing, refusing to look into it.
Al Jazeera reports, Jabbari also had support from high-profile public figures in her own country, including prominent actors.
But regardless of the outcry surrounding her death sentence, the BBC reports Sarbandi's family refused to grant a reprieve for Jabbari, claiming she failed to prove she was acting in self defense.
According to the United Nations, which has asked Iran to place a moratorium on executions, as of May 170 people have been executed in the country this year — with many more inmates on death row awaiting a similar fate.
