Iran court sentences woman to lashing for adultery
Published: Friday, August 15, 2008
IRAN – COURT – LASHING
19:15GMT—3:15PM/EST
Washington, 15 (IranVNC)—An appeals court in Iran found a woman guilty of adultery and sentenced her to 100 lashes, the human rights group Amnesty International reports.
Thirty four-year-old Shamameh Ghorbani was originally sentenced to death by stoning, but the Supreme Court found insufficient evidence for the sentence and ordered a retrial.
According to an Amnesty International statement, Ghorbani was sentenced to death by stoning in June 2006, after her two brothers and husband murdered a man they found in her house.
Ghorbani, too, was stabbed by her family members and nearly died.
In a letter submitted to the court by her lawyer during her first trial, Ghorbani said: “Since I am a rural, illiterate woman and I didn't know the law, I thought that if I confessed to a relationship with the dead man, I could clear my brothers and husband of intentional murder. I said these untrue words in court and then understood I had done myself an injury."
Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen highlighted the discrimination women face in Iran, saying:
“The fact that she is a woman will have undoubtedly worked against her. Iranian women do not get equal treatment under the law and higher illiteracy rates among women mean they are more likely to sign confessions they don't understand.”
She called on Iran to halt the use of flogging as punishment and bring its laws closer to internationally acceptable human rights standards.
Source: Amnesty International statement
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