An Iranian woman charged with the murder of a man she accused of attempting to rape her has had her execution postponed, hours before she was set to be put to death, according to several media reports. An online campaign apparently helped persuade the state to grant her a 10-day reprieve, activists said on Tuesday.
On Monday, 26-year-old Reyhaneh Jabbari was transferred to a prison west of Tehran in order to be hanged, officials said. Soon after, her mother Shole Paravan published a Facebook post claiming that authorities in Iran's notorious Evin prison had informed that she would have to go to the facility to "collect the body" of her daughter on Tuesday, Amnesty International said.
In 2007, Jabbari was arrested for the murder of Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi, a former employee of Iran's Ministry of Intelligence. Although she claimed that he was trying to sexually abuse her, she was placed in solitary confinement for two months, where she reportedly did not have access to a lawyer or her family, The Independent reported.
In a later claim, Jabbari admitted to stabbing Sarbandi once in the back but said another unidentified man in the house eventually killed him, Amnesty said, adding that her case never received proper investigation.
A Tehran criminal court sentenced her to death in 2009, with Iran's Supreme Court upholding the execution verdict. However, her case caused international outrage and sparked a petition urging her release, which has garnered over 190,000 signatures.
In order to bring a halt to her execution on Monday, a new campaign was launched on Facebook and Twitter, using the hashtag #SaveReyhanehJabbari, including protests being held outside the prison, according to BBC News.
Since authorities appeared to be pressing ahead with the execution on Monday, Jabbar apparently wrote an emotional farewell to her mother. "I am currently handcuffed and there is a car waiting outside to take me for the execution," Jabbari was quoted as saying, translated by Fox News.
"Goodbye, dear Mum. All of my pains will finish early tomorrow morning. I'm sorry I cannot lessen your pain. Be patient. We believe in life after death. I'll see you in the next world and I will never leave you again because being separated from you is the most difficult thing to do in the world."
Meanwhile, Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director at Amnesty International, said, "This abhorrent execution must not be allowed to take place, particularly when there are serious doubts about the circumstances of the killing."
"Instead of continuing to execute people, authorities in Iran should reform their judicial system, which dangerously relies on processes which fail to meet international law and standards for fair trial."
