A Kurdish woman named Maliheh Salehian was executed in the central prison of Mahabad. She is the 91st woman to be executed in Iran during Rouhani’s term in office since 2013.
Maliheh Salehian from Miandoab was hanged on Tuesday, July 16, 2019, on charges of murder in the central prison of Mahabad.
In the last two days, 13 people have been executed in different cities of Iran.
On Wednesday, July 17, 2019, another female prisoner, Zahra Safari Moghadam, 43, was hanged in the Prison of Nowshahr, in northern Iran. Zahra Safari Moghaddam was in prison since July 2016.
Less than a month ago, on June 19, a woman identified as Fatemeh Nassiri was hanged in Gohardasht (Rajaii-Shahr) Prison of Karaj. She had been imprisoned since 11 years ago in Qarchak prison. She was said to have undertaken the crime committed by her son.
There are unconfirmed reports of the hanging another woman by the name of Fariba, along with Fatemeh Nassiri on June 19.
Maliheh Salehian is the 91st woman to be executed during six years of Rouhani’s presidency.
Iran is the world’s record holder in per capita executions. More than 3700 persons have so far been executed during six years of Rouhani’s terms in office.
The Iranian regime deploys execution and the death penalty as a tool for maintaining its grab on power and for silencing a disgruntled populace the majority of whom live under the poverty line, while unemployment is rampant in the country and there is no freedom of speech.
Rule 61 of the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-Custodial Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules) reads, “When sentencing women offenders, courts shall have the power to consider mitigating factors such as lack of criminal history and relative non-severity and nature of the criminal conduct, in the light of women’s caretaking responsibilities and typical backgrounds.”
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, has consistently emphasized the need for abolition of the death penalty in Iran.