United States has urged the Iranian authorities to reexamine the evidence in the case against Iranian woman Reyhaneh Jabbari, who was sentenced to death, with utmost transparency.
Jabbari was due to be executed on Tuesday for killing a man she said she stabbed in self-defense during a sexual assault.
The 26-year-old woman was transferred to a prison west of Tehran to be hanged, but she was given a last minute reprieve, and the execution was reportedly postponed for 10 days.
A statement issued by the U.S. State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki said Washington is deeply troubled by reports that Iranian authorities are finalizing plans to execute Reyhaneh. She noted that "Such an execution would mark a severe violation of the fair trial guarantees afforded to Ms. Jabbari under Iranian law and Iran's international obligations." "While we note reports that the execution may have been postponed, serious concerns remain about the integrity of the legal case against Ms. Jabbari, including reports of confessions made under severe duress," the statement added.
Jabbari was arrested in 2007 for the murder of Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi, a former employee of Iran's Ministry of Intelligence.
She was sentenced to death in 2009 after a deeply flawed investigation and trial which failed to examine all of the evidence.
although Reyhaneh Jabbari admitted to stabbing the man once from the back, she said another man who was also in the house killed Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi. Her claim is believed to have never been properly investigated.
Amnesty International alleged that on 14 September, the judicial authorities reportedly pressured Reyhaneh Jabbari to remove her lawyer Mohammad Ali Jedari Foroughi from her case and retain an inexperienced lawyer in his place.
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com