Raheleh Zamani, Mother of 2, Scheduled To Be Executed on Dec. 2o

"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, 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, have refused to allow the young mother to see her children during the time that she has been in prison. 

Raheleh's execution is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, December 20, 2007. 

For more information, please visit:   http://www.SaveDelara.com/Raheleh+Zamani.html and to read the report on Raheleh in Farsi:   http://www.maznoonan.com/?p=108