IRAN: WOMAN'S EXECUTION POSTPONED

the execution of Raheleh Zamani was reportedly postponed until around January 2, 2008. She was due to be hanged in Evin Prison, in the capital, Tehran, on December 19, 2007 (not 20 December as previously stated) for the killing of her husband. Raheleh Zamani, a mother of two children aged five and three, was sentenced to qesas-e nafs (retribution in kind) in October 2005 for the murder earlier the same year of her husband, Mohammad, whom she alleged was having an extra-marital affair. Raheleh Zamani reportedly said in her defence that she was threatened with violence by her husband each time she asked him to end his affair. She said that she had never meant to kill her husband, but just wanted to "teach him a lesson". A month and a half prior to the murder, Raheleh Zamani had given birth to her second child, a son. She may have been suffering from severe post-natal depression. Her husband's family had refused to accept diyeh (blood money). However, it is believed that the postponement follows a decision by her husband's family to give her two weeks in which to raise the money for the payment of diyeh. The amount of money in question is not known to Amnesty International.