The latest circumstances of 20-year-old girl sentenced to death

Iran Press News: Sudents’ committee of human rights reporters: 20-year-old Delara Darabi who in 2003 was charged with the murder of her father’s cousin and was sentenced to death, is being detained in the most unpleasant conditions in the prison of the city of Rasht (province of Gilan).

Her family says: "After the news of Delara’s case was broadcast and received media attention, she began being inexplicably put under tremendous pressure by prision and judiciary officials. At present she is being kept under the most unpleasant of conditions and though her case is being reviewed in a Tehran court, the regime refuses to transfer her from the prison in Rasht, to Tehran’s Evin prison. As a result of the unsanitary conditions in prison, she is suffering from various kinds of physical ailments such as bleeding ulcers due to malnutrition, nervous tension and depression."

Delara was tried at special court branch 107 of the city of Rasht, children and adolescent’s division and her death sentence was confirmed by branch 33 of the court of appeals. When she was delivered to the police by her father, she was in pre-college and only 17 years old.

The verdict was handed down 2 weeks before Delara even confessed; she had even denied having committed any crime. She says: "Convinced that the court would not sentence her to death for being under age she agreed to confess to the crime so that Amir-Hossein, her boyfriend and co-defendant, who was 22 at the time would not be executed." Amir-Hossein however maintained his silence and was only charged as co-defendant to the murder and therefore sentenced to 10 years in prison.

After being informed that the only cases of the execution of minors is when they are charged with murder, she asked for an appeal. At present her case has been sent to the Islamic courts’ high tribunal. Delera’s lawyer, Abdol-Samad Khorram-Shahi took issue with several points in the case; citing the fact that his client is lefthanded, he said: "The victim was stabbled 18 times and my client does not have the physical ability to inflict such wounds."

Also according to Asiyeh Amini, the journalist who has been following Delara’s case: "There are a large number of flaws in the case; first there was no blood test, then the murder weapon was never fingerprinted and among other things, the court only issued the verdict based on the initial confession of the accused. The question remains, how could the court have then accepted the confession of this young girl as document? Even when she recanted they refused to conduct a further investigation and never completed the case."

A while ago some of the paintings that Darlara had done in prison were on exhibition in Tehran’s Golestan gallery. Delara’s family emphasize on this point: "The conduct of prison officials has drastically changed and has become entirely inappropriate."

In a part of the greeting message to the visitors of the exhibition that had been passed along by Delara herself, she had said: "The collection that you see before you is an anthology of my love and joy which I present to you…so that you can see Delara’s soul without judgement! I don’t know which of the roads in our country you have taken to come and see my paintings and it is of no importance because I know that your guide has been love...love of life, of human beings, faith that believing means all that."

It is important to state that against the rules of crime separation and defendants’ classification, Delara is being detained in the public ward of Rasht prison.