The Organization of Iranian American Communities (OIAC) condemns the unjust and inhumane execution of Reyhaneh Jabbari by the clerical regime in Iran. The execution of Reyhaneh Jabbari took place despite an international campaign which highlighted what Amnesty International referred to as a “deeply flawed investigation and trial”.
Reyhaneh Jabbari was sentenced to death in 2009, after she stood accused of murdering a man she claimed attempted to rape her. Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi, the man she was charged with stabbing to death, was a former employee of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence. There were conflicting reports about the circumstances of the death, and Jabbari later claimed that another man in the house was the one who killed Sarbandi.
During her incarceration Reyhaneh Jabbari was kept in solitary confinement for two months, and was denied access to an attorney or visits from her family. According to Amnesty International, in September 2014 judicial authorities pressured Reyhaneh Jabbari to remove her lawyer Mohammad Ali Jedari Foroughi from her case and replaced him with inexperienced lawyer, in an apparent bid to disrupt the lawyer’s efforts to guarantee an investigation into whether or not another man was in the house.
The case not only highlights the culture of misogyny in Iran, but is the latest example of the lack of due process and fairness in Iran’s judiciary. The UN and other international rights groups had said Jabbari’s confession was obtained under intense pressure, a common issue in Iran’s criminal justice system. Iran continues to use torture, and inhumane interrogation methods against prisoners in order to illicit information and false confessions.
Iran continues to lead the world in per capita executions, and continues to use the death penalty as a means of repression and terror against its own population. The case of Reyhaneh Jabbari is just the latest example of Iran’s inhumane judicial system which undermines the rights of women, political activists and ethnic and religious minorities.
The Organization of Iranian American Communities condemns the execution of Reyhaneh Jabbari and calls on the United States and the international community to hold the Iranian regime accountable for its grave violations of human rights, particularly against the women of Iran.
