Women’s
Forum Against Fundamentalism in Iran
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE
Public Statement
CONTACT:
press@wfafi.org
May 1, 2009
The Iranian Regime Executes Another Young Woman
BOSTON, MA- Earlier today, Tehran's fundamentalist regime executed the 23-year-old woman, Delara Darabi, in prison in the northwestern city of Rasht. Darabi was arrested when she was 17-years-old charged with murder of her father's cousins. While the Iranian regime claims that she confessed to the crime, details show that she did so to protect her 19-year-old boyfriend, Amir Hossein Sotoudeh, who tried to rob the cousin's house and murdered her. Her boyfriend, who was sentenced to 10-years for complicity in the murder, told Darabi to take responsibility since she could not be executed for being underage.
In an earlier interview, Darabi's attorney, Abdolsamad Khoramshah, told the media "it is very unlikely that the murder was committed by a girl with a frail body. A strong young man was there. How is it possible that the murder was done by a weak girl?"
While waiting for a judicial resolution of her case, Darabi told her story to the world through her paintings, and raised worldwide awareness about her situation. In 2006, an exhibit was held in Tehran which featured all her work. Her cry for help was widely received by human rights networks around the world but unfortunately it was not enough to save her life.
This is yet another barbaric example revealing the true nature of the fundamentalist regime ruling Iran. Time and time again, the regime in Tehran has proven to have no respect for any human rights norms, or other international treaties and conventions such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Iranian regime is a signatory of these accords.
WFAFI calls upon the Obama administration and other leaders of the free world to place the issue of human rights, women's and children's rights at the center of any policy relations with Tehran's regime. The fundamentalist regime is Tehran is danger to its own citizens and the free world. Silence and lack action will only encourage Tehran. Darabi was executed today despite widespread international campaign. This is a clear example that Tehran's will not change its behavior and change will not come from within this regime. The real change in Iran will come by the Iranian people, especially women who face the harshest treatment under this regime.
Let us not forget Darabi and honor her with our
efforts to give the indigenous voice of Iranian opposition the attention that it
deserves.
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