Iran hangs woman for 'murdering love rival wife of national footballer'

Daily Mail UK - Iran hanged a woman convicted of murdering a love rival before morning call to prayer today. Shahla Jahed was executed at 5am local time after the verdict was confirmed by the supreme court and the judiciary chief.

'A few minutes ago, Shahla Jahed was hanged in the courtyard of Tehran's Evin prison after 3,063 days of being kept in prison,' the Fars news agency said.

Executed: Shahla Jahed, pictured outside court in 2004, was hanged today after being convicted of murdering a love rival

Jahed was executed in front of the family of the woman she was convicted of killing.

She had a so-called 'temporary' marriage with Nasser Mohammad Khani, a former striker for the Iranian national football team.

She was convicted of stabbing to death his 'permanent' wife Laleh Saharkhizan in 2002 on the basis of her confession, which she later repeatedly retracted at her public trial.

In the Shiite faith - the majority religion in Iran - men and women can marry for an agreed period of time. Afterwards, the marriage is null and void, although it can be renewed.

Men can have up to four permanent wives, and any number of temporary wives. Women can only be married to one man at a time.

It is widely suspected that Jahed was forced to confess to the stabbing.

Karim Lahidji, the president of the Iranian League for Human Rights, described her as 'a victim of a misogynous society'.

'Shahla Jahed has never had a fair trial in Iran and has always insisted that she is innocent,' he told The Guardian.

'We are approaching Human Rights Day on December 10 and once again Iran is executing another woman. That's a clear signal that Iran wants to challenge the world on human rights issues.'

Jahed during her 2004 trial in Tehran. She was found guilty of stabbing to death the 'permanent' wife of Iranian footballer Nasser Mohammad Khani

The London-based rights group Amnesty International had called on Iran to halt Jahed's execution.

A spokesman said yesterday: 'There are good reasons to suggest that she may have been wrongly convicted.'

Amnesty said that in early 2008 the judiciary overturned the verdict and ordered a fresh investigation, citing 'procedural flaws'. 

However, Jahed was again sentenced to death in February 2009.

Khani was a prominent Iranian footballer in the 1980s and late became a coach for Tehran's Persepolis football club.

The execution is thought to be the 146th so far this year, according to a count based on media reports. At least 270 people were executed in 2009.

The execution comes just weeks after French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni pleaded with Iran not to stone to death Sakineh Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother-of-two found guilty of cheating on her husband and then helping to kill him.

Iran responded by launching two scathing barrages of insults at the French First Lady, branding her an adulteress with a 'vastly immoral lifestyle'.

The Islamic republic says the death penalty is essential to maintain law and order and is applied only after exhaustive judicial proceedings.

Murder, rape, armed robbery, drug trafficking and adultery are all punishable by death in Iran.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1334618/Iran-hangs-Shahla-Jahed-murdering-love-rival-wife-national-footballer.html#ixzz16qwXsueQ