Abdorrahman Boroumand Center

for Human Rights in Iran

https://www.iranrights.org
Promoting tolerance and justice through knowledge and understanding
Amnesty International

Iran: Death Penalty: Shabnam Parastesh, (f)

Amnesty International
August 12, 2008
Appeal/Urgent Action

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.