"I didn't know who I was beating with that steel pipe. I saw him as a monster. No matter how many times I would hit him, he would still attack me. I was terrified."
These are the words of a young woman who had attacked her husband as he slept. Two years ago, a 25 year old woman, named Raheleh Zamani, went to her brother-in-law's home with her two young children in tow, claiming that her husband, Mohamad, had not returned home after leaving a few days earlier.
Less than 24 hours into Police's investigation into Mohamad's disappearance, the body of a 33 year old man was found in an oil well located on a property in Eslamshahr. While searching Mohamad's home, investigators noticed that the rugs were wet and found blood spots in the kitchen. Accordingly, they suspected that Mohamad had been murdered inside his home, and they charged Raheleh, Mohamad's wife, with his murder.
After her arrest and during police interrogations, Raheleh claimed responsibility for her husband's murder. In court, Raheleh explained: "On the day of the incident, I got home and I saw a strange woman in my home, who, upon seeing me, ran off into the bathroom. Shocked about this woman's presence in my home, I confronted my husband. Mohamad yelled at me and told me that I was no longer of any use to him as a 'woman' since I had had two kids and he no longer found me attractive. When I got upset, Mohamad began beating me and threw me out of the house. I was extremely upset, but after a few hours I returned to my house, and again asked Mohamad about the woman. Not only did Mohamad refuse to apologize for his actions, he actually threatened to kill me if I said anything to anyone about his extra-marital relationships. I was a mess. I could never have imagined that my husband would cheat on me or beat me so brutally only a month after I had given birth to our son. I was an emotional wreck; I was severely depressed; so when Mohamad gave me some pills that he said would calm my nerves, I took them."
Breaking into tears, Raheleh continued: "A little while after giving me the pills, Mohamad went to lay down. I remembered discovering a steel pipe in the storage room when I was cleaning out that room a few days earlier. I went to the storage room, picked up the steel pipe and went to where Momhad was laying down. At this point, he seemed like a demonic monster to me. I was very scared, so I began to hit him with the steel pipe. But he kept coming after me, attacking me, and beating me repeatedly. So I fought back. When he finally stopped moving, I saw my daughter in the room and I turned off the light so she would not see what had happened. Until the very moment that I put Mohamad's body in the oil tank, I thought he was some kind of a live demon who would repeatedly attack and abuse me."
Raheleh appears to have been suffering from severe post-partum depression during the incident (she had given birth to the couple's second child only a month and half prior to the incident). Further, based on her husband's abusive treatment of her over the years, she also portrayed classic signs of battered-women's syndrome. Regardless of the evidence about her altered mental state and mental and emotional illnesses, Raheleh was found guilty of pre-meditated first degree murder, and was sentenced to death by hanging.
Raheleh's in-laws, who took physical custody of her two young children upon her arrest, refused to allow the young mother to see her children during the time she was in prison, nor was she permitted to see her children during the final moments of her life.
Amnesty International reported:
The execution of Raheleh Zamani has reportedly been postponed until around 2 January 2008. She had been due to be hanged in Evin Prison, in the capital, Tehran, on 19 December 2007 (not 20 December as previously stated) for the killing of her husband.
Raheleh Zamani, a mother of two children aged five and three, was sentenced to qesas-e nafs (retribution in kind) in October 2005 for the murder earlier the same year of her husband, Mohammad, whom she alleged was having an extra-marital affair. Raheleh Zamani reportedly said in her defence that she was threatened with violence by her husband each time she asked him to end his affair. She said that she had never meant to kill her husband, but just wanted to "teach him a lesson". A month and a half prior to the murder, Raheleh Zamani had given birth to her second child, a son. She may have been suffering from severe post-natal depression. Her husband's family had refused to accept diyeh (blood money). However, it is believed that the postponement of Raheleh Zamani's execution follows a decision by her husband's family to give her two weeks in which to raise the money for the payment of diyeh. The amount of money in question is not known to Amnesty International.
Raheleh Zamani is believed to be held in Evin Prison in the capital, Tehran. On 19 December, one woman and three men were hanged at the prison. This brings to six the total number of women believed to have been executed in Iran in 2007. In addition to Raheleh Zamani, two other men were also spared execution in order to give them the chance to raise diyeh.
Executions in Iran have increased sharply in 2007, particularly in the wake of a crackdown on "social vices" which was announced in April and has continued to date. Amnesty International has recorded at least 310 executions to date, some of which have been in public, including some multiple hangings.
Under Iranian law, a victim's family can ask right up to the moment before an execution that a murderer's life be spared and blood money be paid instead.
It appears that Raheleh was not able to raise enough money to pay blood money to her in-laws, or perhaps they simply withdrew their decision to accept the money and simply wanted to see Raheleh die.
Raheleh was executed by public hanging on January 2, 2008.
No comments:
Post a Comment