Dear friends, It is with a heavy heart that I write these words: Yet another innocent Iranian girl faces imminent risk of execution by the Islamic regime for a crime that she never committed. On Saturday, January 27, 2007, Iran’s Supreme Court upheld the death sentence of Delara Darabi for a second time. Delara, who is now 20 years old, faces death by public hanging for a murder that took place when she was 17 years old. According to newspaper and court reports, after murdering a woman related to Delara, Delara’s 19 year old boyfriend, Amir Hossein, convinced Delara to admit responsibility for the murder to protect him from execution. Apparently, both teenagers believed that because Delara was under the age of 18, she could not be sentenced to death. This belief proved to be devastatingly false. With complete disregard for its obligations under the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and despite overwhelming evidence of Delara’s innocence, as well as the teenager’s repeated denials about having had any role in the commission of the crime, a court in the city of Rasht found the girl-child guilty of murder based solely on her initial claim of responsibility and sentenced her to death by hanging. Since that ruling, the Islamic regime has repeatedly demonstrated patent disregard for its promises to the international community and to the rights of Iranian children by upholding Delara’s death sentence. Until recently, Delara had proven to be a remarkably poised young prisoner with an amazing talent for painting and drawing. She had used her gift to compile a diary of her pain as a child prisoner on death row. From the dark confines of her prison cell, Delara produced an impressive collection of paintings that speak of the horrors of prison, of torture, of beatings, of hopelessness, loneliness, and the loss of a child’s innocence. They are haunting images of injustice and brutality. They are the stories of the innocent women and children of Iran, shackled by the injustices of a brutal regime. They are a teenager’s diary of crimes against humanity committed by the very government that should serve as her protector, but is, instead, her jailer and her executioner. In retaliation to exposing their horrifying crimes, the officials of the Islamic regime took away the only remaining outlet of Delara’s pain: They confiscated her painting materials. When Delara used coal and whatever else she could find to paint her pain on the walls of her prison, they subjected the young artist -- nicknamed “prisoner of colors” -- to brutal forms of emotional and physical abuse. They banned her from painting altogether, and they prevented her from having any visitors or contacting her lawyer except for twice a month briefly by phone. Their abuse proved too much for young Delara, who, true to her sensitive disposition as an artist, wears her pain woefully close to the surface of her skin. On January 20, 2007, Delara attempted suicide by cutting her wrists. Fortunately, her cell-mate noticed the incident and called for help. Delara’s emaciated body was rushed to the hospital, where, by what can only be deemed a miracle, doctors were able to revive her and bring her back to life. As of the date of this letter, Delara remains in critical condition and weighs only 35 kilos. Her family and those close to her case are extremely worried about her health, both physically and emotionally.
The silent screams of innocent girls like Delara must be acknowledged by each and every one of us. We MUST express our outrage, voice our anger, and show our support to those who can not speak for themselves. Anything less would be less than human, less than American, and most certainly, less than Persian.
As humans with a conscious and a heart, we owe this to young Delara and to every innocent life that is subjected to the brutalities of an evil regime. We owe this to the daughters of Cyrus the Great. We owe this to humanity.
Please express your outrage and stand up for the rights of a girl-child who can not stand up for herself by signing this petition:
http://www.petitiononline.com/DL2222/petition.html
YOUR SILENCE ONLY SERVES AS A REINFORCEMENT OF DELARA’S DEATH SENTENCE.
Lily Mazahery, Esq.
President
Legal Rights Institute
Washington, DC
President
Legal Rights Institute
Washington, DC
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Comments: 34
I hope everybody gets to see this article, it is THAT important.
You have helped save lives before and I know you can do it, again.
I will make this the Lead Feature in The Renewed Activist.
May God bless you, dear Lily, for what you're doing!
Love and blessings - S.
How about putting an end to the Death Penalty here in America? That's a fight you might actually be able to make a difference in.
You do dangerous work Lily, and I am concerned about your welfare at times.
However, you have your own drive and good work.
Be careful, as I know you are. But anyway be careful. It's a dangerous world we live in.
THIS liberal American certainly signed the petition and has been speaking out against Delara's sentence, as well as other similar cases for some time. So ....
Injustice is injustice... no matter where and who the victims are!!
I hate Iran as much as anyone, and I know there are lots and lots of story about its bad legal system, but that does not mean I condone making them up or twisting them.
If I am wrong, I'd love to find out about it, but the way I read it I would ask the same punishment for anyone who committed a murder during a burglary and then claimed it was an accident. Murders and burglars both make me sick.
childhoodstories.gather.com
dontwantagroup.gather.com
yearofthepig.gather.com
ghosttales.gather.com
adore.gather.com
and any other ones you come across with "Mandi G." as the creator.
I shall forward this to my mailing list so my contacts can add their voices to what I hope will rattle the bars of her prison.
She might be an artist, but she sure isn't a rocket scientist.
Also, I'm wondering what has happened to this 'boyfriend'? Has he been jailed for his complicity? Nothing that a stone-age civilization such as the theocracy in Persia does surprises me.
I call this natural consequence. I am sorry she is dirty, whether she took the person's life or not, is not the issue. She tried to protect the guility, she is as guility as the person who murdered her relative.
Third, we are well aware (or should be) of the particular issues that most women of Islamic countries face. I can only imagine the atrocities that Delara has been subjected to in prison. This point is directed to the commentator who stated "you women....".
And fourth, for the person who thinks we should only focus on our own...Selfish and ignorant. And in case you didn't realize it, judicial atrocities do occur in first world countries like the U.S. and Canada (albeit on a smaller scale). By taking a stand globally, we are helping our own. Furthermore, many people born in the U.S. and Canada have Middle Eastern backgrounds so if we're going to ignore tragedies in the Middle East, we might as well ignore our own too....
Thank you for your efforts and courage Lily.