UN expert urges Iran to stop woman’s execution

Reyhaneh Jabbari is set to be killed Tuesday for stabbing intelligence official who may have sexually assaulted her

Head-to-toe veiled Iranian women attend a polling station to vote for the presidential and municipal councils elections in Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 14, 2013. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Head-to-toe veiled Iranian women attend a polling station to vote for the presidential and municipal councils elections in Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 14, 2013. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

GENEVA — A United Nations human rights investigator is urging Iran to stop the planned execution of a woman said to be the victim of a sexual assault over concerns that she didn’t receive a fair trial.

The UN human rights office in Geneva says Reyhaneh Jabbari is reportedly due to be executed Tuesday for the 2007 killing of Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi, a former employee of the Iranian Intelligence Ministry.

Ahmed Shaheed, the UN’s special investigator on human rights in Iran, said Monday that the case should be re-tried because Jabbari may have acted in self-defense.

He says testimony from “reliable sources” indicates Sarbandi carried out a sexual assault against Jabbari before she stabbed him.

Shaheed said Iran has executed more than 170 people this year, including at least two women.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press.

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