Nazanin Fatehi
| Nazanin Fatehi | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1987 (age 29–30) |
| Residence | Karaj, Iran |
| Nationality | Iranian (Kurdish) |
| Other names | Mahabad |
| Criminal charge | murder |
| Criminal penalty | death (qesas), by hanging |
| Criminal status | overturned, released |
| Parent(s) | mother Maryam [father's name unknown] |
| Motive | self-defense, victim of physical and sexual assault |
| Comments | arrested and imprisoned March 2005; convicted and sentenced January 2006; conviction overturned, retrial and continuing detention ordered May 2006; retrial August 2006; cleared of intentional murder, ordered to pay diyeh, released on bail January 2007; detention approx. 24 mos.; assailant/victim name unknown; current whereabouts unknown. |
Nazanin (Mahabad) Fatehi (Persian: نازنین فاتحی, born 1987) is an Iranian woman who was sentenced to death for stabbing a man who allegedly tried to rape her and her 15-year-old niece, events occurring when she herself was a 17-year-old. After more than 2 years in jail, Fatehi was cleared of intentional murder, ordered her to pay diyeh (blood money for the death), and released on bail (January 2007). As of 2012, Fatehi's whereabouts were reported to be unknown to concerned supporters outside of Iran.
Nazanin Fatehi and the niece involved in the event leading to Fatehi's arrest, also a minor, are described as being "from an economically deprived Kurdish family" living in "abysmal poverty". Reports of family life include "a mother who [felt] that she was cursed to give birth to a girl" and the expectation that Nazanin would remain unschooled and care for siblings, and a father addicted to opium, with references to physical and psychological abuse from parents and a male sibling, and childhood sexual abuse by a family acquaintance. Their home, in the relevant time period, was in Karaj, west of Tehran.
Nazanin Fatehi, as reported in the Iranian daily Etemaad, was 17 years old at the time of these events; she and her 15-year-old niece were traveling in a secluded park area near Karaj, their home, west of Tehran; there, per the Amnesty International description of the case, a "group of youths surrounded the girls and tried to rape them". The men were alleged to have pushed Fatehi and her niece to the ground and attempted the sexual assault; the defendant then reportedly took a knife from her pocket, trying to protect herself, and stabbed one of the men in the hand.
According to Fatehi, as reported in the Etemaad article, the girls then tried to escape but the men overtook them; at this point Fatehi stabbed one of the male attackers in the chest (a wound that eventually led to his death), fled the scene for a police location, and reported the incident. According to the account of the court proceedings in the Etemaad source, when being interrogated by the judge Fatehi began to sob uncontrollably and yelled: "I did not want to kill him! I am not at all a bad-doer. Mr. Judge, what do you want to do with me? I am a girl child! How many times do I have to say that I did this to defend myself and my niece?" According to the Amnesty account, the defendant told the court: "I wanted to defend myself and my niece… However, I did not want to kill that boy. At the heat of the moment I did not know what to do because no one came to our help".
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