Iran Execution: Woman Hanged in Murder of Husband's First Wife

There are "strong grounds to believe that Shahla Jahed did not receive a fair trial, and may have been coerced into making a 'confession' during months of detention in solitary confinement," said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International's director for the Middle East and North Africa, speaking to the BBC.

Speaking to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Shahla Jahed's lawyer, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi, broke down. "I just can't believe it. I'm not feeling well. Shahla just kept crying; she didn't say anything. I went forward and told her to talk, but she only cried. The victim's family did not give their consent until the last minute. All the people who were there asked them to forgive her, but unfortunately they didn't accept. Nasser Mohammadkhan was there, too, and said nothing."

Khorramshahi was referring to a last-minute pardon option available to those convicted of murder in Iran: according to the BBC, a "direct appeal" to the victim's family is possible, and the family can commute the sentence. Speaking to the BBC, Khorramshahi said he had not had time to appeal to them. "According to the rules I should have been informed 48 hours before the execution so that I can go to the bereaved family asking them to forgive Shahla for the last time," he said.

The case has been pending for eight years and suddenly the execution was scheduled for this morning; feminist groups and human rights groups expressed shock and dismay. NPR reported that there is a great deal of "tabloid" attention to the execution in Iran.

Speaking to the Guardian, Jahed's former cell-mate, Fereshteh Ghazi, 31, lashed out at the system. "Even if Shahla had committed the crime, which she didn't, Shahla and the murdered wife are both victims of a male-dominated society, a system that gives all the rights to men. Shahla, Laleh [the murdered wife], and all other women like them are all victims of flaws in the Iranian judicial system and Iran's unequal judicial system. Even the person who pulled away the chair today in her execution is a victim of the system."

"I can say that she was a very emotional woman. She was always very energetic and happy and at the same time she was very sad. You could see the sadness in her eyes, but she had an optimistic outlook . . . she used to help all the new inmates.

"Like her first appearance at her trial, she told me in the prison that she was beaten up for 11 months and she was tortured. But she didn't confess until Naser Mohammadkhan came to see her and asked her to take responsibility for the murder and she did so."

Jahed is not the woman who activists were championing earlier this fall, Sakineh Mohammad-Ashtiani, 43, who has also been sentenced to death. That case is still pending.

Iran is notorious for its use of execution. Amnesty International estimates that the country executed 388 people last year alone.