Iran Focus: Tehran, Dec. 26 Iranian press have reported the public execution of at least four women in the past year, with at least 14 more to be publicly hanged or stoned to death.
Iran Focus has obtained the names and particulars of the four executed women, among them a 16-year-old girl. They were: Iran Focus
Tehran, Dec. 26 Iranian press have reported the public execution of at least four women in the past year, with at least 14 more to be publicly hanged or stoned to death.
Iran Focus has obtained the names and particulars of the four executed women, among them a 16-year-old girl. They were:
1. Monireh Ghasempour, hanged in public in Tehran on July 11;
2. Atefeh (Sahaleh) Rajabi, 16 years old, hanged in public in the northern town of Neka on August 15;
3. Diba Zomorodian, a microbiology student, hanged in Qazvin (western Iran) on June 29;
4. Unknown woman hanged in Qazvin on July 12.
Iran Focus has also obtained the names of the 14 women currently on death row:
1. Afsaneh Norouzi, aged 32, sentenced to stoning
2. Kobra Rahmanpour
3. Najmeh Vosouq-Razavi
4. Hajiyeh Esmaeilvand, sentenced to stoning
5. Mandana Nikkhou
6. Shahla Jahed
7. Faeze A.
8. Fatemeh Haghighat-Pajou
9. Leyla Mafi, aged 19
10. Sara
11. Zahra
12. Raheleh
13. Tayyebeh
14. Shahnaz, aged 35
In the fifty-first United Nations resolution censuring human rights abuses in Iran, the UN General Assembly condemned the Iranian regime on December 20 making particular reference to the treatment of women. It expressed its serious concern at the systemic discrimination against women and girls in law and in practice and the refusal of the Guardian Council to take steps to address this systematic discrimination, noting in this context its rejection, in August 2003, of the elected Parliaments proposal to accede to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
Iran has in recent weeks stepped up public executions, sparking an international outcry. One such event on 7 December, where seven people were hanged together in public in the southeastern town of Zahedan, was broadcast on national television.
