Shahla Jahed

Shahla Jahed, innocent woman in threat to be executed

Dear reader, unfortunately, Shahla Jahed was hanged at 5 a.m. Teheran time, on Dec. 1st, 2010 at Evin prison, despite her being innocent and despite the international outcry. Even the presence of her "temporary" husband and his family during the hanging didn't help. According to the Iranian present law, a family of victim can pardon a person who is convicted and spare her life. They didn't do it despite knowing she was innocent. What is written below treat thus as a dramatic piece from Shahla Jahed's life, after she was imprisoned at Evin jail. She has expierenced evil mistreatment both, from the Iranian regime and from the family of her temporary husband's permanent wife, as well as from him himself who has betrayed her. For your information, both, the permanent and temporary marriage are legal in Iran. More below:

Last minute open letter to His Excellency, Ajatollah Ali Khamenei: Free Shahla Jahed, please. She is innocent!
by Thaddeus Hutyra on Tuesday, 30 November 2010 at 16:51

Your Excellency,


Shahla Jahed is believed to be at imminent risk of execution, after Iran’s Supreme Court upheld her death sentence for murdering her husband’s first wife in 2002. She may have been coerced into confessing to the murder.

Shahla Jahed was a "temporary" wife of Nasser Mohammad-Khani, a former striker for the Iranian national football team and former manager of a team in Tehran. According to press reports, Shahla Jahed was originally sentenced to death by hanging in 2004 for stabbing to death Laleh Saharkhizan, Nasser Mohammad-Khani's "permanent" wife. Under Iranian law, men and women can have both "permanent" and "temporary" marriages. In a temporary marriage, men and women can commit to be married for a certain period of time, after which the marriage is null and void.

The prosecution reportedly claimed that Shahla Jahed had murdered Laleh Saharkhizan out of jealousy. Nasser Mohammad-Khani was himself initially suspected of complicity in the murder and jailed for some months, but was reportedly released.

Shahla Jahed is said to have confessed to the murder 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 Jared reportedly said, “Everyone knows the conditions under which I confessed.”Shahla Jahed’s lawyer reportedly believes that Shahla Jahed's case has not been properly investigated and is urging the Head of the Judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi,to order a fresh enquiry.

Amnesty International is concerned that Shahla Jahed’s confession may have been made under duress.

A few years ago, Shahla recounted: “the interrogation lasted for weeks. They did all they could to me, they tortured until I wished I was dead, and on occasions, and until they forced me to confess and sign what they dictated. They even threatened to bring in a little girl from my family, who is like a daughter to me, and hurt her if I did not comply. I did all they asked and confessed. After the torture, in the courts, I protested and retracted my confession; I told them I am not the murderer, but no one would listen to me.”

Shahla’s lawyer, Abdulsamad Khoramshahi, has always emphasised that the case has ten legal errors: the half smoked cigarette found in the scene was given as evidence, while Shahla does not smoke; the stabbings were done by a left handed person, while Shahla is right handed; the body was washed and dressed in clean clothes after the killing, something Shahla would be unable to do. The whole investigation was not clear and transparent, the search for evidence was not done with formality, many leads were left unattended, many witnesses and those with information did not show up in court and nothing was done scientifically! However, they were quick to come to the conclusion! Later the result from forensic examination showed Laleh was raped before she was murdered.

Your Excellency, please be assured we, the people in Belgium, as well as the people in the whole world believe firmly that Shahla Jahed is innocent, she has never been in that awful place of crime and there has never been found any evidence of her crime.Would you please cancel the execution of Shahla Jahed, it will bring you a great esteem and approval from the world public, because the cancellation of the execution will be viewed as your great guest on behalf of this innocent young woman. You can be assured she will have a decent life and will be a valuable member of the Iranian nation.

Your Excellency, I wish you in the meantime good health and success in building a just Iran.

Yours sincerely,
Thaddeus Hutyra, on behalf of people of Belgium, Poland, New Zealand and the rest of the world.

To the world public:
Last chance! Shahla Jahed is to be executed in a few hours, call Iranian officials, let them feel they have innocent blood on their hands, protest: http://iransolidarity.blogspot.com/2010/11/shahla-jahed-to-be-executed-tomorrow.html
PROTEST: Call IRI embassies, sign petitions, send automated letters, street protest - Long live initiatives to save Shahla Jahed: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=174236302605127&id=102220223182167
&
http://stopstonningnow.com/wpress/4286

More information:

A Statement by the International Campaign of Human Rights Lawyers on the Imminent Execution of Shahla Jahed:

Considering the various flaws and misgivings as well as the existing documents and evidences, the International Campaign of Human Rights Lawyers (ICHRL) asks the head of the Judiciary to immediately halt the execution of Shahla Jahed. There are serious questions and doubts about the veracity and accuracy of the verdict and death sentence.
On February 3, 2003, Shahla Jahed, before the judicial and police authorities and in the presence of national media, stated that she is not the murderer of Laleh Saharkhizan and has insisted many times that she was not involved in the murder. Based on the statement of Major Abharian, one of the officers assigned to the investigation of the case, the fate of Shahla Jahed changed forever after she received a private and illegal visit at Tehran’s Agahi (the police criminal investigation unit) by Nasser Mohammad Khani and one of his friends. After this meeting and due to her extreme affection for Nasser Mohammad Khani, and apparently because of his private request in the meeting, Shahla Jahed denied admitting earlier (of non-guilt) and confessed to the murder.
Major Abharian states that he had obtained evidence that pointed to the innocence of Shahla Jahed. However, the case was taken away from Major Abharian he is not allowed any involvement in the case anymore. Major Abharian is one of the senior officers of the Tehran police force and has a long experience in investigating serious crimes, and honour, serial, and organized killings. He explicitly stated that Shahla Jahed is innocent and he believes that the police and the security agents have planned [all along] to blame Shahla Jahed for the murder of Laleh Saharkhizan who was killed by the security organizations. He also believes there were evidences in favour of the defendant’s (Shahla) innocence that were intentionally not collected. He adds that the crime scene was compromised and destroyed from the start of the investigations. The traces of the crime were cleared and the evidences that showed Shahla Jahed was innocent were destroyed by some of the plainclothes agents acting under the supervision of Colonel Kashfi, Tehran’s Criminal Investigation Unit deputy director.
ICHRL, out of duty and to prevent the death of an innocent human, condemns any form of death penalty. It joins the opponents of the death penalty across the world to remind [the authorities] that the death penalty is irreversible, and once carried out, if the defendant is proven to be innocent, there is no return. Given the serious flaws and doubts in the course of the investigations and due to the explicit contradictions in the evidences presented, including the statements of the investigating officer, the verdict and the death sentence were issued in a manner inconsistent with the legal procedures and do not have the required legal credibility. The hesitation of the former Head of the Judiciary as to whether Shahla Jahed was really behind this murder and his orders that the case be re-investigated and retired is a testament to [our] claim.
ICHRL once again insists that the execution of Shahla Jahed has to be halted and asks all international human rights institutions and organizations to protest such unfair proceedings and prevent the Islamic Republic Judiciary from, once again, unfairly take the life of an innocent person.
International Campaign of Human Rights LawyersTuesday, November, 23, 2010

Source: http://persian2english.com/?p=16968

Shahla Jahed is believed to be at imminent risk of execution, after Iran’s Supreme Court upheld her death sentence for murdering her husband’s first wife in 2002. She may have been coerced into confessing to the murder.

Shahla Jahed was a "temporary" wife of Nasser Mohammad-Khani, a former striker for the Iranian national football team and former manager of a team in Tehran. According to press reports, Shahla Jahed was originally sentenced to death by hanging in 2004 for stabbing to death Laleh Saharkhizan, Nasser Mohammad-Khani's "permanent" wife. Under Iranian law, men and women can have both "permanent" and "temporary" marriages. In a temporary marriage, men and women can commit to be married for a certain period of time, after which the marriage is null and void.

The prosecution reportedly claimed that Shahla Jahed had murdered Laleh Saharkhizan out of jealousy. Nasser Mohammad-Khani was himself initially suspected of complicity in the murder and jailed for some months, but was reportedly released.

Shahla Jahed is said to have confessed to the murder 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 Jared reportedly said, “Everyone knows the conditions under which I confessed.” Shahla Jahed’s lawyer reportedly believes that Shahla Jahed's case has not been properly investigated and is urging the Head of the Judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, to order a fresh enquiry.

Amnesty International is concerned that Shahla Jahed’s confession may have been made under duress. The organization has recorded 67 executions in Iran so far this year, although the true figure may be much higher.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty as the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, in violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

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Oh, Shahla, what the regime did to you!
In remembrance to Shahla Jahed, innocent woman executed by the Islamic regime of Iran...
by Thaddeus Hutyra on Thursday, 02 December 2010 at 19:39

Oh Shahla, Shahla, Shahla!
Oh, Shahla, what the regime did to you!

You were a beautiful young woman,
in love, Shakespearan love, indeed!
To Naser, a married man, a footballer!
But married also to you! Your man!
A love as if in Romeo and Julliet,
of never ending spring, blossomed!
You were happy despite living
in the Islamic Iranian apartheid,
so cruel to women, despotic!
But you didn’t bother, you were though young!
And in love, your evergreen love,
To a man who had two wives.
You, the so called temporary one
and Laleh, the permanent one.
Both marriages were perfect legal
Under the Islamic law of Iran.
The world was thus everlasting spring.
But one day you have learnt something new,
something what changed your life upside down.
God! Oh God! Laleh, the other wife of your husband,
was found murdered, oh no!
It came like a thounder from a blue sky,
like a tornado’s eye enveloping you,
like an earthquake onder your feet.

Oh, Shahla, Shahla, Shahla!
Oh, Shahla, what the regime did to you!

You were thrown in the Evin prison
and charged with a murder you didn’t commit.
Thrown as if you were a falling angel,
you, the ascending angel till then
who was thirsty of it all, life, love and happiness!
And suddenly, from one moment to another,
you were tortured, interrogated, molested
so long till you wished you were dead,
though you wanted to live,
far away from this jail!
The Evin prison, Evil prison!
What an agony! What a misunderstanding!
And then they forced you to confess
to what wasn’t true, oh, no!
And to sign everything
what they dictated to you, oh, God!
How could you overcome
the overwhelming fear and pain, oh how?!
These men who mistreated you,
they were no men. They were beasts!

Oh, Shahla, Shahla, Shahla!
Oh, Shahla, what the regime did to you!

Eight years of nightmare followed
in the Evin prison, your hell !
You protested and retracted your confession
in the Islamic courts, but no one listened.
They all were deaf to your pleads.
Why have they sentenced you?
You, the innocent one?
Oh why?! Oh why? Why? Oh why?!
You sat so many days and nights
in the corner of your prison’s cell
and cried, feeling defenceless, lost.
In your dreams only angels cried for you
all the way to heavens!
Despite this the reality was always harsh,
cold, dark, stenchy, full of schimmels.
With women, your fellow prisoners
who were left to decay while alive.
What a mirror of Iran’s Islam!
Of it’s Sharia law and arrogant ajatollahs!

Oh, Shahla, Shahla, Shahla!
Oh, Shahla, what the regime did to you!

The case had so many legal errors.
A half smoked cigarette was found
at the crime’s scene athough you don’t smoke.
The stabbings were done by left handed person
while you were right handed.
There was not any evidence
of your ever being there.
And furthermore, athough forensic examination showed
Laleh was raped before she was murdered,
you were still kept in the Evin prison.
Tortured again and again, without end.
Given no chance to being freed,
cursed by the clerics,
damned to be a fallen angel, forgotten.
You, the innocent one! A woman!
But believe us you were never damned by us.
By us, the people of the world!

Oh, Shahla, Shahla, Shahla!
Oh, Shahla, What the regime did to you!

We have tried our best but we lost.
They, the regime’s pigs
did their worst in the meantime
and they won.
No! They have won for now only!
And we have won forever!
Because you are with us, Shahla!
And we are with you! Forever!
Despite tortures inflicted on you
by the cruel guards,
you were determined
never to sign their so called confession.
But Naser, your temporary husband
succeded in something the guards never could.
He came once to your prison's cell
and begged you to help him,
to spare his life and career.
So it was not only because of tortures
but also because of him
you have signed that confession,
which like ugly face of death to come
was your gruesome nightmare
for long eight years in jail!
If only you had known!
You trusted him and signed it for him!
Not knowing yet
it will become your death sentence.
How could you do it different
when you loved him so much?!
And trusted him beyond anything else?!
He had though promissed you
he will bring you away from prison!
He and his family, with their pardon!
But he betrayed you!
It was clear already the next morning, oh no!
He has turned his back on you!
A stranger since, a complete stranger!
As if he never met you before!
Oh, Shahla, the regime betrayed you,
and your own husband betrayed you, too.
But we, the people of the world
have never betrayed you, believe it!
Because you are with us, Shahla!
And we are with you! Forever!

Oh, Shahla, Shahla, Shahla!
Oh, Shahla, What the regime did to you!


Written by Thaddeus Hutyra, http://www.funworld.be/
Dedicated to Shahla Jahed, the innocent woman, bestially hanged despite international outcry from around the world.