Iran postpones execution of woman

The execution of an Iranian women convicted of murdering a man who allegedly tried to rape her, has been postponed for ten days, the Independent reported.

After her arrest in 2007, a Tehran court found Reyhaneh Jabbari guilty in 2009 of killing Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi, a former employee of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence who she said attempted to sexually abuse her.

An international outcry that followed a Supreme Court decision to uphold the execution sparked a petition that was signed by more than 190,000 supporters.

Twenty-six year-old Jabbari's execution was meant to be today but international rights group Amnesty International told The Independent that sources informed them of the news, adding that they did not yet know the reason behind the last-minute delay.

“We're obviously extremely relieved that Reyhaneh is out of immediate danger, but we're calling on the Iranian authorities to confirm that she won't be hanged in a week and a half's time and that instead there will be a full review of the deeply-flawed original investigation into her case,” a spokesperson for Amnesty was quoted as saying by the British daily.

Officials from the Evin Prison, where Jabbari awaited her sentence, had told her mother she would have to come to the facility to “collect the body,” she said in Facebook post.

While Jabbari reportedly admitted to stabbing the man in the back, she said another man had killed Sarbandi.

Amnesty International said her claim was never properly investigated.