IRAN. SUPREME COURT AGAIN UPHOLDS CONVICTED WOMAN'S DEATH SENTENCE

September 11, 2006: Shahla Jahed, 36, was once again facing imminent execution, after the Supreme Court reportedly upheld her death sentence for the second time. She was sentenced to death for murdering her husband’s first wife in 2002.
She may have been coerced into confessing to the murder.  Shahla Jahed, a "temporary" wife of Nasser Mohammad-Khani, a former striker for the Iranian national football team and former manager of a team in Tehran, stood accused of stabbing to death Laleh Saharkhizan, her husband’s “permanent” wife, on 9 October 2002. She was initially sentenced to death in June 2004 and an appeal by her relatives, at the time, was rejected and the judges of Branch 15 of the Supreme Court upheld the sentence.
Shahla Jahed’s lawyer reportedly wrote a letter to the Head of the Judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, requesting a review of the execution order in view of the fact that Shahla Jahed's case had not been properly investigated. In November 2005 the Head of the Judiciary reportedly ordered a stay of execution so that the case could be re-examined. Shahla Jahed was said to have confessed to the murder of Laleh Saharkhizan during the initial investigation, but during her trial consistently upheld her innocence.
In December 2004, on being told of a previous Supreme Court ruling in the case, Shahla Jahed reportedly said, “Everyone knows the conditions under which I confessed.” (Sources: Amnesty International, 12/09/2006)