Dear
Friends,
This
story was posted yesterday on the website for The Nation
(a left-leaning newspaper in the United States):
Tehran,
Iran, Jan. 07 – An Iranian court has sentenced a
teenage rape victim to death by hanging after she weepingly
confessed that she had unintentionally killed a man who
had tried to rape both her and her niece.
The
state-run daily Etemaad reported on Saturday that 18-year-old
Nazanin confessed to stabbing one of three men who had
attacked the pair along with their boyfriends while they
were spending some time in a park west of the Iranian
capital in March 2005.
Nazanin,
who was 17 years old at the time of the incident, said
that after the three men started to throw stones at them,
the two girls' boyfriends quickly escaped on their motorbikes
leaving the pair helpless.
She
described how the three men pushed her and her 16-year-old
niece Somayeh onto the ground and tried to rape them,
and said that she took out a knife from her pocket and
stabbed one of the men in the hand.
As
the girls tried to escape, the men once again attacked
them, and at this point, Nazanin said, she stabbed one
of the men in the chest. The teenage girl, however, broke
down in tears in court as she explained that she had no
intention of killing the man but was merely defending
herself and her younger niece from rape, the report said.
Here's
a link to the full article:
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion?pid=60725
Katha
Pollitt, the columnist who posted the story, suggests
writing emails to the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights
( tb-petitions@ohchr.org) asking that the UN raise the
case with Iran. I don't know whether this will help, but
it can't make the situation worse and I think it's important
to take action.
I
know that you are all very eloquent and passionate people
who care deeply about human rights, and I would greatly
appreciate it if you would take a few minutes to send
an email to the High Commissioner. Thanks in advance.
With
love and peace,
Shannon
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