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ISLAMIC COURT FREES IRANIAN TEEN FROM DEATH SENTENCE
February 1, 2007: after two years in prison, Iranian teen Nazanin Fatehi was released and spared from her original death sentence following an international campaign spearheaded by former Miss World Canada Nazanin Afshin-Jam.
Fatehi’s freedom was granted a few days after the required 400 million rials (approximately $43,000 USD) bail money was handed over to the court.
Fatehi was sentenced to death for murder after she stabbed, in self-defense, one of three men who attempted to rape her and her 15-year-old niece. She was 17 at the time. Following extensive international pressure and media coverage, a new trial unanimously overturned the murder charge and ordered Fatehi to pay "diyeh" (blood money) to compensate the family of the deceased.
Nazanin Afshin-Jam said "we must not forget the 23 other juveniles currently on death row in Iran. Iran is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and also the Charter of the Rights of the Child, which forbid the execution of persons under the age of 18, although Iran continues to do so. We must get to the root of the problem and put pressure on the Iranian officials to change the laws once and for all." (Sources: Bodog Music, 01/02/2007)
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