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Mentally-ill girl who was sold for sex faces death penalty in Iran
By Angus McDowall
December 14, 2004
Tehran - A teenage girl with a mental age of eight is facing the death penalty
for prostitution in Iran. The trial comes only four months after the hanging of
another mentally ill girl for sex before marriage in a case that has prompted a
human rights lawyer to prepare a charge of wrongful execution against the
presiding judge.
The girl, known as Leyla M, is in prison while the Supreme Court decides on her
"acts contrary to chastity", among the most serious charges under Iranian law.
Under the penal code, girls as young as nine and boys as young as 15 can be
executed.
In an interview on a Persian-language website, the 19-year-old says she was
forced into prostitution by her mother at the age of eight. Amnesty
International refers to reports that say she was repeatedly raped, bore her
first child aged nine and was passed from pimp to pimp before having another
three children.
She told the website: "The first time I was taken to a man's house by my mum I
was eight. It was a horrible night and I cried a lot but then my mum came the
next day and took me home. She bought me chocolate and cheese curls."
Iranian press reports say Leyla was charged with controlling a brothel, having
sex with blood relatives and bearing an illegitimate child. Amnesty says the
court refused to admit social workers' evidence of her young mental age and
convicted her on the basis of confessions.
Her prosecution echoes the fate of an even younger girl, Atefeh Rajabi,
executed in August. In her case a judge known as Hajj Rezai reportedly put the
noose around her neck himself after convicting her on the basis of her
confessions for the fourth time in two years. She begged for her life while
being led to the gallows, shouting "repentance".
Shadi Sadr, a human rights lawyer representing Atefeh's family, has filed a
suit of wrongful execution against the judiciary and is preparing a murder case
against Mr Rezai after uncovering new evidence. She has found documents seen by
The Independent that prove Atefeh was mentally ill and her confessions should
not have been used.
"There is an article in the penal code that if somebody is sentenced to lashing
on three separate occasions for the same offence, the fourth conviction incurs
the death penalty," Ms Sadr toldThe Independent. "The same judge tried her for
each of these past cases but we haven't been allowed to see the files."
A different man was involved in each of Atefeh's convictions. All refused to
confess but the judge said it was obvious they had sex with her and sentenced
them each to 95 lashes.
After her trial, Atefeh said she had been a victim of sexual assault during
spells of mental ill health. After her first conviction in 2001 when 14, she
spent time in a state facility for the "socially harmed". Ms Sadr has obtained
documents written by officials there backing up her story.
An undated report written by the facility's psychiatrist says she had a history
of "chronic sexuality" and was given to "pseudo hallucinations" and seductive
behaviour. He diagnosed her with borderline bipolar disorder.
People in Atefeh's neighbourhood wrote two petitions - one before her
conviction and one afterwards - affirming that she suffered from mental illness
and begging for leniency. Ms Sadr has been unable to locate the defence lawyer
in the case.
After the verdict, Atefeh wrote to the High Court, saying: "There are medical
documents that prove I have weak nerves and soul. In some minutes of the day
and night I lose my sanity. During these attacks any kind of positive or
negative actions may be done by me. In a society where an insane person can be
serially raped or abused it is no wonder that a person like me is the victim of
such an ugly act." Ms Sadr says Atefeh's mental state should have invalidated
the case.
The day before the execution Atefeh told her aunt she had written three words
to the High Court: "Repentance, repentance, repentance." In Iranian law,
somebody who repents their crime is granted the right to appeal against their
sentence.
A social worker's report says Atefeh's father and brother were heroin addicts
and after her mother's death "she sought affection on the streets".
Ms Sadr says it is impossible to verify lurid claims in dissident websites
about an improper relationship between girl and judge. "We will never know what
happened between Atefeh and the judge because she is dead, he won't tell and
she was tried in a closed court."
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"Leila" from execution in Iran
12-2-2004
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