Iran on Tuesday executed a 24-year-old Iranian-Kurdish woman Zeinab Sekaanvand.

In a tweet, Amnesty International expressed its outrage.

"24-year-old Zeinab was executed in Iran this morning. She was a child when arrested & convicted after an unfair trial. She said male police officers tortured her in detention. We’ll issue a response soon. Pls RT & tell @khamenei_ir @JZarif to stop sentencing children to death!"

24-year-old Zeinab was executed in Iran this morning. She was a child when arrested & convicted after an unfair trial. She said male police officers tortured her in detention. We’ll issue a response soon. Pls RT & tell @khamenei_ir @JZarif to stop sentencing children to death! pic.twitter.com/ZmzVHw6TyA — AmnestyInternational (@amnesty) October 2, 2018

Philip Luther, Middle East and North Africa Research and Advocacy Director at Amnesty International, had called on the Iranian authorities to stop the execution, which he said was a result of an “unfair trial”.

Luther’s statement mentioned that Zeinab was under 18-years-old when she committed the crime, and that she was denied the right to hire a lawyer, in addition to the fact that she was tortured in detention to get her to confess unwillingly.

Amnesty International says that Zeinab was arrested in February 2012, after being accused of killing her husband whom she married at 15.

The accused was detained in a police station for 20 days after the crime happened, where she was beaten by male police officers and “confessed” to stabbing her husband after he abused her physically and verbally for months and rejected her requests for a divorce, according to reports from Amnesty International.

Amnesty International finds Zeinab’s trial an “unfair” one that didn’t comply with the Iranian penal code, and did not provide a legitimate report that evaluates “her mental growth and maturity”.

The Iranian courts did not retrial her after she turned 18, nor did they inform her that she could apply for a retrial in reference to article 91 of the Iranian penal code, according to Amnesty International.

Last Update: Wednesday, 20 May 2020 KSA 09:51 - GMT 06:51