It’s been two days since news broke of Iranian prisoner Delara Darabi’s (22) execution in the Rasht prison Friday morning; a sentence originally scheduled to be carried out on Monday 20 April, postponed for two months, following massive international protests.
The international community and human rights organisations, such as the Amnesty International, mourns the all-too premature death of the young artist, whose painting, The prisoner of colours, is shown here.
Delara Darabi received her sentence at the tender age of 17, which, according to international law, ratified even by Iran, renders her under-aged, for a crime she later denied. Since, at the age of 17, she was not elligible for a death sentence, she took the blame for a murder commited by her boyfriend, in order to save his life. When her own sentence fell, in spite of international law, she retracted her confession, to no avail.
MAY DAY EXECUTION: Delara Darabi, hanged on 1 May 2009. (Photo from myspace.com/helpdelara)
The two-month stay of Delara’s execution, announced on 20 April, gave hope that Iranian authorities might be convinced to spare her life in response to a massive two-month international campaign.
Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty’s deputy chief for the Middle East and North Africa, said that the execution was a cynical move to avoid international protests.
According to the above quoted BBC report, the BBC’s Jon Leyne in Tehran says that Delara Darabi early on Friday morning made a desperate phone call to her parents, saying she could see the hangman’s noose:
“Mother they are going to execute me, please save me,” she said, before a prison official took the phone away and said: “We are going to execute your daughter and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Amnesty International Middle East and North Africa Programme Deputy Director Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui said:
Amnesty International is outraged at the execution of Delara Darabi, and particularly at the news that her lawyer was not informed about the execution, despite the legal requirement that he should receive 48 hours’ notice.
This appears to have been a cynical move on the part of the authorities to avoid domestic and international protests which might have saved Delara Darabi’s life.
This indicates that even decisions by the Head of the Judiciary carry no weight and are disregarded in the provinces.
Clearly, there’s little left to do with respect to Delara Darabi’s all-too short life, but according to Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam of Iran Human Rights in Norway, another 150 Iranian juveniles are still awaiting the execution of their death sentences, which may me carried out at any given point of time. Furthermore, according to the organisation’s web pages, the EU presidency strongly condemns the execution of Delara:
The Presidency of the European Union strongly condemns the execution of Miss Delara Darabi carried out by the Iranian authorities in the City of Rasht on May 1. Miss Darabi was sentenced for crime she committed as juvenile at the age of 17.
The Presidency strongly protests against her execution as an act running counter the international commitments that Iran has voluntarily accepted. The Presidency of the European Union urgently calls on Iran to avoid any juvenile executions and to eliminate the death penalty for juveniles from its penal code. Such human rights violations erode the ground for understanding and mutual trust between Iran and the European Union.
If Mr. Amiry-Moghaddam’a estimates are right, Amnesty International’s and the international community’s focus should be to convince Iran’s authorities to respect international laws, in the hope it’s not – once more – too late.
See also:
- Rights Groups Condemn Iran for Execution – The New York Times/Reuters
- Amnesty International condemns hanging of Iranian woman – CBC News
- EU condemns Iran execution – Radio Netherlands
- Outcry as Iran executes artist over juvenile conviction – The Guardian
- – Mamma, de skal henge meg! Redd meg! – VG Nett (in Norwegian)
Top photo: “The prisoner of colours”, painted by Delara Darabi.
Great article but that picture of the NAKED girl doesn’t make any sense to me and certainly does not fit this story. Certainly in the Islamic Republic of Iran where everyone is forced to wear a veil.
Thank you so much for the kind words, Parisa, and I agree: Generally speaking, a painting depicting a naked girl isn’t very relevant in settings such as this, but I chose to use it, as a commemoration of Delara Darabi, as she herself is the artist — for which, I think, she should be remembered, too.
The picture of the naked girl, is one of her paintings. Delara was an artist.
That’s right, Tala. She named this particular painting The prisoner of colours. For more samples of her work, please see below YouTube clip:
og mens kvinner i iran ikke har rettigheter, så fortsetter luksushorene her i landet å kjempe om rettigheter til å flashe de stygge hengepuppene sine her i butikker og badehaller..
[...] op deze blog: Insignificances: Iran: 150 juveniles to be executed door Jarle Petterson op 3 mei 2009; Iran bevestigt doodvonnis Delara Darabi voor feiten toen ze 17 [...]