Iran: Death Penalty: Shabnam Parastesh, (f)
PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 13/111/2008
UA 221/08 Death Penalty
IRAN Shabnam Parastesh, (f), aged around 33 years
Shabnam Parastesh's death sentence has been upheld by the Supreme Court for the murder of her husband. Her execution was scheduled for 12 August and she is at imminent risk of execution.
In 2006, a criminal court in Tehran found her guilty of the murder of her husband and she has been detained for the past two years in Raja’i Shahr prison in Karaj, a city west of Tehran.
Shabnam Parastesh had been married for one month when she discovered that her husband had been married previously and that he continued to have intimate relations with his former wife and other women.
Her husband is reported to have said in the course of their final argument that she would either have to live with the situation or pay him a considerable amount of money for him to agree to divorce her.
Following this exchange, Shabnam Parastesh drugged him with a powerful relaxant and sedative as a result of which her husband fell unconscious. Shabnam Parastesh reportedly then stabbed him. With the assistance of an accomplice, Shabnam Parastesh transported her husband’s body to scrubland outside Tehran where it was later found.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: PLEASE SEND APPEALS TO ARRIVE AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE, IN PERSIAN, ENGLISH, ARABIC OR YOUR OWN LANGUAGE:
- acknowledging that governments have a right and responsibility to bring to justice those suspected of criminal offences in proceedings that meet international standards for fair trial, but pointing out that the UN General Assembly passed a resolution on 18 December 2007 which calls on States “to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty.”
- stating politely that Amnesty International unconditionally opposes the use of the death penalty in all cases and under any circumstances, since it violates the right to life and by its very nature constitutes cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.
APPEALS TO:
Head of the Judiciary
Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh / Office of the Head of the Judiciary
Pasteur St., Vali Asr Ave., south of Serah-e Jomhouri,
Tehran 1316814737
Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: [email protected](In the subject line write: FAO Ayatollah Shahroudi)
Salutation: Your Excellency
President
His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The Presidency
Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection
Tehran
Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: [email protected]
via website: www.president.ir/email
Salutation: Your Excellency
COPIES TO:
Mohammad Javad Larijani
Director,
Office of the Human Rights Headquarters
c/o Office of the Deputy for International Affairs
Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Justice Building,
Panzdah-Khordad (Ark) Square,
Tehran
Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: + 98 21 5 537 8827 (number may be unreliable)
and to diplomatic representatives of Iran accredited to your country.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 23 September.