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Atefeh Sahaaleh

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Atefeh Rajabi Sahaaleh
عاطفه رجبی سهاله
BornSeptember 21, 1987
Neka, Iran
DiedAugust 15, 2004 (aged 16)
Neka, Mazandaran Province, Iran
Criminal statusPardoned after execution
ConvictionsAdultery and crimes against chastity
Criminal penaltyDeath by hanging

Atefeh Rajabi Sahaaleh (Persian: عاطفه رجبی سهاله; September 21, 1987 – August 15, 2004) was an Iranian girl from the town of Neka, Mazandaran Province, who was executed a week after being sentenced to death by Haji Rezai, head of Neka's court, on charges of adultery and crimes against chastity after being repeatedly raped.

Early life

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Sahaaleh was born in Neka, and her family moved to Mashhad shortly after her birth. When she was a young girl, her parents separated and her mother remarried. Her mother died in a car crash when Sahaaleh was five years old. Around that same time, her younger brother was said to have drowned in a river. Her father became a drug addict, and she was forced to care for her octogenerian grandparents. Despite her attention to their needs, they were reported to have largely ignored her.[1] She was described as a "lively and intelligent girl".[2]

Arrests

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Sahaaleh was convicted of fornication under Iranian Penal Code Article 221 (a crime against chastity)[3] when she was 13 years old. Following a police raid, she was discovered alone in a car with a boy. She was jailed and given 100 lashes. While in prison, she was further allegedly tortured and raped by prison guards. She told her grandmother that she could only walk on all fours because of the pain.[4] In the following years, she was arrested twice more for crimes against chastity, and both convictions were punished by flogging and jail time.[5] Under Iranian Penal Code Article 136, a fourth conviction for a hadd crime for which the punishment was carried out three previous times results in the death penalty.[6]

That fourth conviction started in May 2003, when Sahaaleh was arrested at home and charged with adultery and immorality. Authorities presented a report which they claimed supported the charges against Sahaaleh, but the only signatures on the report were police officers and other local authorities.[1][5]

The judge presiding over the trial was Haji Rezai. After Rezai interrogated Sahaaleh, she confessed to being raped by Ali Darabi, a married 51-year-old ex-revolutionary guard turned taxi driver. Sahaaleh was raped repeatedly by Darabi over the previous three years.[7][8] When Sahaaleh realized that she was losing her case, she removed her hijab, an act seen as a severe contempt of the court, and argued that Darabi should be punished, not her. She removed her shoes and threw them at the judge.[9] Rezai sentenced Sahaaleh to death. Her lawyer appealed to Iran's Supreme Court in Tehran, where the verdict was upheld due to Sahaaleh's confession and three prior convictions for similar offenses.[1][5]

According to the BBC, the documents presented to the Supreme Court of Appeal described her as 22 years old, but her birth certificate and death certificate stated that she was 16. A witness stated that "the judge just looked at [Sahaaleh's] body, because of the developed physique ... and declared her as 22", and her father alleges that "neither the judge nor even Sahaaleh's court appointed lawyer did anything to find out her true age".[7]

Execution

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She was publicly hanged from a crane in Neka on August 15, 2004.[2]

Sahaaleh's execution is considered controversial, in part because, as a signatory of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Iran promised not to execute anyone under the age of 18.[7] According to a 2004 press release issued by Amnesty International, Sahaaleh was the tenth minor Iran had executed since 1990. They declared her execution to be a crime against humanity and against children of the world.[10]

After the execution of Sahaaleh, Iranian media reported that Judge Rezai and several militia members, including Captain Zabihi and Captain Molai, were arrested by the Intelligence Ministry.[2][better source needed] Pursuant to continual complaints filed by Sahaaleh's family, and heavy international pressure about her execution and the way the judge mishandled the case, the Supreme Court of Iran issued an order to posthumously pardon Sahaaleh.[citation needed]

Documentaries

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Sahaaleh's story was the subject of a BBC documentary produced by Wild Pictures in 2006. Monica Garnsey and Arash Sahami went undercover to document the case.[7] It was also the subject of an hour-long Discovery Times program called Execution in Iran.[citation needed]

Controversies

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Anti-Muslim social media accounts have claimed that she was executed "because she reported that she was raped. Under Sharia law, being raped is considered ‘sex outside of marriage’, and it’s a capital crime."[11]

Under Iranian law, rape is considered a public crime against the rights of individuals and society, requiring active investigation.[12] Rape is almost exclusively proven through a legal principle known as elm-e qazi, or the 'Knowledge of the Judge'.[13] This principle allows a judge to reach a conviction based on the certainty gained from a wide range of evidence, including forensic medical reports, DNA, police investigations, and the victim's testimony.[14] If the judge attains this certainty, the male perpetrator is convicted of rape and the prescribed hadd punishment is execution.[15] As explained by the cited articles, the problem with this system is that the discretion is solely in the hands of a judge so, if you have an unfair judge, the woman will not receive justice.

A failed rape accusation does not automatically result in punishment of the accuser; the most common outcome is dismissal of the case. A woman can be punished if a separate charge of making a knowingly false accusation (qazf) is brought against her and proven, the penalty for which is 80 lashes.[12][13]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c عاطفه سهاله رجبی [Atefeh Sohaleh Rajabi]. بنیاد عبدالرحمن برومن [Abdul Rahman Broman Foundation] (in Persian).
  2. ^ a b c Kennedy, Theresa Griffin (2013-01-12). "We Must Never Forget Atefeh of Iran: 'The Gypsy of Neka'". Salem News. Retrieved 2024-06-15.
  3. ^ "The Islamic Penal Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran". Iran Human Rights Documentation Center. 2013. Retrieved 2024-10-27. Article 221: Zina (adultery/fornication) is defined as sexual intercourse between a man and a woman who are not married to each other.
  4. ^ Garnsey, Monica (2006-07-28). "Death of a teenager". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 2013-06-23. Retrieved 2016-12-14.
  5. ^ a b c "Iran: The last executioner of children". Amnesty International. 2011-03-26.
  6. ^ Islamic Penal Code (136). Iran. 2013. Whenever someone commits the same hadd offense three times, and the hadd punishment is carried out on them each time, the hadd punishment for the fourth time shall be execution.
  7. ^ a b c d "Programmes | Execution of a teenage girl". BBC News. 2006-07-27. Archived from the original on 2018-09-29. Retrieved 2012-06-08.
  8. ^ Garnsey, Monica (producer) (2006-08-14) [2006-07-27]. "Part 3 of 6". Execution of a Teenage Girl. Wild Pictures. BBC. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 2012-06-08 – via Youtube.
  9. ^ Garnsey, Monica (producer) (2006-08-14) [2006-07-27]. "Part 4 of 6". Execution of a Teenage Girl. Wild Pictures. BBC. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 2012-06-08 – via Youtube.
  10. ^ "Iran: Amnesty International outraged at reported execution of a 16 year old girl". Amnesty International (Press release). 2004-08-22. Archived from the original on 2019-12-07. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  11. ^ @realMaalouf (April 28, 2024). (Tweet) https://x.com/realMaalouf/status/1982855482126807493 – via Twitter. Atefeh Sahaaleh, an Iranian girl, was executed by the state at the age of 16. Her crime? She reported that she was raped. Under Sharia law, being raped is considered 'sex outside of marriage', and it's a capital crime. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help); {{Cite tweet}}: |date= / |number= mismatch (help)
  12. ^ a b Motahharifar, Ebrahim; Qayyoum Zadeh, Mahmoud; Ahangaran, Mohammad Rasoul (Winter 2023). "وجاهت علم قاضی در اثبات زنای به عنف با رویکرد تطبیقی در فقه و حقوق [The Validity of the Judge's Knowledge to Prove Rape with a Comparative Approach to Jurisprudence and Law]". پژوهشهای فقهی [Jurisprudential Researches] (in Persian). 18 (4): 975–1000. doi:10.22059/jorr.2021.308640.1008936.
  13. ^ a b Omīdī, Jalīl; Javānmardī Sāḥib, Murtaḍá; Murādpūr, Zhīlā (Summer 2019). "نقش علم قاضی در احراز عنف و اکراه در جرائم منافی عفت؛ بررسیهای نظری و تجربه های عملی [The Role of the Judge's Knowledge in Ascertaining Force and Coercion in Crimes Against Chastity; Theoretical Investigations and Practical Experiences]". مطالعات فقه و حقوق اسلامی [Journal of Islamic Jurisprudence and Law] (in Persian). 11 (20): 65–94. ISSN 2228-6230. {{cite journal}}: Check |issn= value (help)
  14. ^ "The Islamic Penal Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran". Iran Human Rights Documentation Center. 2013. Retrieved 2024-10-27. Article 211: The knowledge of the judge is the certainty obtained from conventional evidence and indications... Note- Matters such as the opinion of an expert, local investigation, witness statements... can be a source for the knowledge of the judge.
  15. ^ "The Islamic Penal Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran". Iran Human Rights Documentation Center. 2013. Retrieved 2024-10-27. Article 224: The hadd punishment for zina in the following cases is the death penalty... (c) Zina by coercion or force (rape), which results in the death penalty for the coercing man.
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