UNITED KINGDOM. 'I'LL DIE IF YOU SEND ME HOME TO IRAN'

May 9, 2006: Fatema Torabi, a teacher who fears being stoned to death in Iran after being accused of adultery there appealed to Scottish judges to save her. Torabi, 52, had been given a second chance to fight a decision to deport her. Ms Torabi fled Iran five years previously with her teenage daughter after discovering that she had been accused of adultery – an offence which carries the possible penalty of stoning in the strict Islamic country.
She claims it was her support for the more liberal Azadi Movement in her home country which led her into trouble.
Judges at the Court of Session in Edinburgh heard claims that if Ms Torabi returned to Iran she would not get a fair trial.
Her counsel, Mungo Bovey QC, pointed out that a woman's evidence was only considered to be worth half that given by a man in Iran.
In addition, he claimed judges also acted as prosecutors in secret trials, which – like the penalty for stoning – was a breach of human rights.
Ms Torabi claimed political discussions with her students brought her to the attention of the Iranian intelligence services who detained and ill-treated her.
The developments led her husband to divorce her but, in spite of his opposition, she was given custody of their daughter. She then received a summons to go to court in May 2001 where she learned she was being accused of adultery and fled, first from the court building and then from the country. (Sources: The Daily Express, 09/05/2006)