Advocates hope Iranian girl will avoid execution

[karrie]

Advocates hope Iranian girl will avoid execution

Updated Wed. Jan. 10 2007 6:14 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
The trial of an Iranian girl convicted of killing a man who attempted to rape her concluded Wednesday, according to a former Miss World Canada who has advocated on her behalf.

Nazanin Fatehi, 19, has had her case championed by former beauty pageant contestant Nazanin Afshin-Jam.

The four judges overseeing the case have agreed that the killing was not premeditated, so Afshin-Jam said she is hopeful Fatehi will avoid the death penalty and may even be released from custody.

"At this point, they might still give her a prison sentence or they might release her completely," Afshin-Jam told CTV Newsnet.

"We're not expecting anything because at this stage it would be foolish to assume anything, but based on the people who were in the courtroom today, they seemed pretty happy and said that Nazanin was smiling."

According to Afshin-Jam's website for Fatehi (HelpNazanin.com), more than 200 people came to support the young woman in court. In other similar cases, there are usually about 12.

Fatehi was sentenced to death in an Iranian court a year ago, after admitting to stabbing to death one of three men who tried to rape her and a 16-year-old relative. Fatehi was 17 at the time.

In June, her death sentence was stayed and a new trial ordered.

According to the Iranian daily newspaper Etemaad, Fatehi and her niece were in a park outside Tehran with their boyfriends when they were approached by three men. The boys fled after the men pushed the girls to the ground. Fatehi drew a knife and stabbed one man in the arm and another in the chest, killing him.

"I say to myself, if I was still in Iran that could have been me," said Afshin-Jam.

Under Iran's strict laws on chastity, if Fatehi had allowed the men to rape her and her niece, the girls would have been subjected to 100 lashes.

If they had been married at the time they were raped they would likely have been found guilty of adultery and sentenced to death by stoning.

Self-defence is a valid defence for murder in Iran, but it depends largely on the circumstances. For example, the fact that Fatehi and her niece were in a park in the evening could have affected her defence.

"Under Shariah law, the life of a woman is worth half that of a man and therefore her testimony as well in court," explained Afshin-Jam on Tuesday.

Afshin-Jam, who won the Miss Canada pageant in 2003 and was born in Iran, took up the cause last year.

She has since become the figurehead of what is now an international campaign to have Fatehi freed. The European Union has denounced the death sentence and Amnesty International is lobbying for Nazanin's release.

 

[RomSpaceKnight]

I generally try to be an advocate for muslims on forums. As I believe for the most part they get a raw deal from uneducated bigots. But backward arsed laws and theocratic goverments don't make it easy. The girls chicken sh!te boyfriends need 100 lashes. The would be rapists need a castration.

 

[karrie]

I generally try to be an advocate for muslims on forums. As I believe for the most part they get a raw deal from uneducated bigots. But backward arsed laws and theocratic goverments don't make it easy. The girls chicken sh!te boyfriends need 100 lashes. The would be rapists need a castration.

I was hesitant to post it, as the bigotry towards Muslims irritates me to no end. But, at the same time, religions never change without pressure from their participants. The world needs to make it clear we don't find these kinds of laws acceptable, so that the people within Muslim culture can affect change.

 

[RomSpaceKnight]

I think those who choose to emigrate are making the statement that they wish that their daughters to be able to grow up without the risk of being raped and then punished for it. Most of them are among the hardest working law abiding people here.

Only the fact these countries have oil makes them newsworthy. Before the Russians went in to Afghanistan, how often did that country make the news? If Iran had no oil we would not hear or for that matter care about what went on there. Occassionaly we would hear how backwards the country would be with repressive customs concerning women. This is as big a negative statement about ourselves as it is about the Iranian goverment.

The Iranian goverment was legally elected. Do we hold the Iranian people in contempt for this? Should we hold grudges. The Germans legally elected the Nazis in the 30's. Immediately after the war there was no hard feelings towards the German people. Are we big enough to forgive the Iranian people. The Nazis got in due to the incredibly bad conditions of Germany between the two world wars. Previous to the Iranian muslim clerics seizing power the Shah ran a goverment of repression with a secret police force and informers. He lived in decadence and foreign oil companies pumped the life blood of the country out to prop up our own decadent lifestyles. Can we be surprised at the backlash against western norms such a equality for women. There is a democratic tradition in Iran atleast the current regime was legally elected. The hardliners only narrowly defeated the moderates. Perhaps in time the policies of Iran will moderate. They at least have a chance with legally elected goverments. Syria with it's Baathist regime and the gulf states with unrepresentative monarchies do not.

For the sake of all the innocent girls in Iran I hope this is true abd that Iran can move beyond the past and evolve in to a modern and inclusive state.

 

[EagleSmack]

I think you need to read a little more. You seem to have no clue about how the Nazis came to power and the current Iranian regime KEEPS power.

Some Nazi's were elected to power but Hitler was not elected. He was appointed by the Kaiser and then he forced the Kaiser to step down and made himself dictator. Hitler then forced the army and elected government to swear an oath of loyalty to him.

The current elected govt. in Iran answer to the Revolutionary Council who are NOT elected. They decide which laws are valid and create new laws as they see fit that needs no ratification by the elective body. The President of Iran is a mouthpiece of the Revolutionary Council and no more than a figure head. He wields no power. His marching orders come directly from the Revolutionary Council. The Revolutionary Council have authority over the courts and the elective body.