Iran, holding a record for executing people convicted of crimes, added one more today to its current year’s list of 250 by executing Reyhaneh Jabbari who was being tried for the murder of a former employee of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi. Despite the protest against this execution on the international level and request raised by several human rights activists all over the world, the Iran government went ahead with the punishment.
The US State Department called this trial to be unfair in terms of the circumstances surrounding it and the the confessions made by the convicted was under pressure. While the organisations all over the world said that the stabbing by Jabbari was just a part of self-defense and not murder. However, the the supreme court at Iran refused to agree citing reasons which suggested this was indeed murder.
The court said that although Jabbari claimed that she was being sexually assaulted by Sarbandi but the evidence suggested that she had plotted on murdering him. She had purchased a knife two days before the death happened and had even messaged a friend about planning to kill him. Besides, the mark was on his back which was not considered as self defence. The family of the deceased refused to forgive her and asked for death penalty which was finally awarded.
