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Iranian Woman Faces Execution; Amnesty Calls Trial 'Unfair'

by Reuters

   DUBAI, U.A.E. --

   A rights group urged the Iranian judiciary Tuesday to quash a death
   sentence against a 22-year-old woman accused of killing her husband,
   who she said had repeatedly abused her.

   Zeinab Sekaanvand was arrested in February 2012 and convicted of her
   husband's murder after what London-based Amnesty International called a
   "grossly unfair trial." She faces execution by hanging as soon as
   October 13.

   Sekaanvand was just 17 when her husband was killed, making her a minor
   by international legal standards.

   "This is an extremely disturbing case," said Philip Luther, research
   and advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty
   International. "Not only was Zeinab Sekaanvand under 18 years of age at
   the time of the crime, she was also denied access to a lawyer and says
   she was tortured after her arrest by male police officers through
   beatings all over her body."

   Last year, a similar case drew condemnation from rights groups when
   Iran executed Fatemeh Salbehi, who had suffocated her husband after
   drugging him when she was only 17. Like Sekaanvand, Salbehi said her
   husband had abused her.

   In the past decade, Iran has executed at least 73 juvenile offenders,
   according an Amnesty report in January. Under Iranian law, adulthood is
   legally determined by puberty, which is defined as age 15 for boys and
   9 for girls.

   In recent years, the judiciary has generally held off on executing
   minors until after they turn 18.