Iran’s Supreme Court gives go-ahead for execution of woman

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Oct. 26 – Iran’s State Supreme Court upheld the death sentence against a 35-year-old woman, the Iran daily reported on Wednesday. Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Oct. 26 – Iran’s State Supreme Court upheld the death sentence against a 35-year-old woman, the Iran daily reported on Wednesday.

The woman, identified only by her first name Shahla, was accused of killing Leila Saharkhizan, the wife of Iran’s football star Nasser Mohammad-Khani in Tehran in October 2002.

According to the prosecutors, Shahla befriended Mohammad-Khani and the footballer took her as his second wife. Iran’s Islamic legal system allows polygamy. The prosecutors said Shahla was so jealous of Mohammad-Khani’s other wife that she eventually killed her. Shahla denied the accusation and proclaimed her innocence throughout the trial.

A panel of five judges in the SSC ruled against Shahla, upholding a sentence which had already been seen to by a smaller panel in the court earlier this month.

She faces imminent execution.