Raheleh Zamani Writes Letter to Her Husband's Family, Asking For Forgiveness
Raheleh Zamani is scheduled to be hanged in Tehran's Evin prison on Wednesday, December 20, 2008. On Saturday, December 15, 2008, she issued a letter to the family of her husband, in which she begged their forgiveness for the sake of her children.
In the same letter, Raheleh asked Iran's judiciary to stay her planned execution so that she could have enough time to obtain the forgiveness of her husband's family.
In her letter, Raheleh writes:
"I regret my unintentional commission of this act. To this day, I can not believe what I have done. It is as if I dreamed it all. I had been abused so much, and I had suffered for so long, that I lost all control and had no idea what I was doing. I, too, am extremely distressed. Please believe me when I say that my heart aches for my husband. I was trying to save my own life; but, suddenly, what happened, happened. Now, when my children have been left without a father, please do not let them live without their mother as well. It has been 3 years that I have not seen my now-5 year old daughter and 3 year old son; yet, I realize that I must now say this: They need their mother. I beg you to think not only of revenge, but also about the emotional and mental impact upon those children. How could those children grow up without their mother and father? When they have grown, would they not ask you why you did not forgive their mother? Would they not ask you why you did not give them a chance to grow up with her and make our own determinations [about what she has done]? I have not seen my children for 3 years. On four different occasions, I have requested to see them, but [my husband's family] has refused to bring them to visit me. Initially, I did not insist on seeing them too much because I feared that seeing them would break my heart; I was afraid that not only would I, myself, no longer be able to tolerate being away from them, but that they, too, would be unable to deal with my absence. But now, I want to see them. I can no longer be tolerant; I can no longer bear to be away from my children."
"[Mohamad's] death was only an accident. I have no idea what happened to me that made me do what I did. My kids are just beginning their lives. How can they tolerate going through life without their mother? They will grow up regardless, but nothing can replace a mother's love and the essence of a mother's presence in their lives. How I wish their father was with them. How I wish I had died and this had never happened. I am not saying any of this for my own sake; I am only thinking of my children. If [my husband's parents] truly love their son, they should consider the best interests of his children. Please do not allow those children's pain to be doubled. If I am responsible and if I have sinned, my children are without fault. For their sake, please forgive me and forgo my blood."
"I think of my husband's family as my own. Even now, I hurt for them, and I truly regret what has happened. They might think that, based on what took place in only a moment's time, I begrudge them or view them as my enemies. Yet that is not the case, for I truly did not know what I was doing and I deeply regret what happened. Every night, I am haunted by nightmares about my husband's family, and now that I am separated from them, I feel that I have lost my own family. I want them to please think of me as their own child. My wish is that they will forgo my blood. I absolutely can not imagine that they would place the noose around my neck. " I didn’t know who I was beating with that steel pipe. I saw him as a monster. No matter how many times I would hit him, he would still attack me. I was terrified.” These are the words of a young woman who had attacked her husband as he slept. Two years ago, a 25 year old woman, named Raheleh, went to her brother-in-law’s home with her two young children in tow, claiming that her husband, Mohamad, had not returned home after leaving a few days earlier. Less than 24 hours into Police’s investigation into Mohamad’s disappearance, the body of a 33 year old man was found in an oil well located on a property in Eslamshahr. While searching Mohamad’s home, investigators noticed that the rugs were wet and found blood spots in the kitchen. Accordingly, they suspected that Mohamad had been murdered inside his home, and they charged Raheleh, Mohamad’s wife, with his murder.
After her arrest and during police interrogations, Raheleh claimed responsibility for her husband’s murder. In court, Raheleh explained: “On the day of the incident, I got home and I saw a strange woman in my home, who, upon seeing me, ran off into the bathroom. Shocked about this woman’s presence in my home, I confronted my husband. Mohamad yelled at me and told me that I was no longer of any use to him as a ‘woman’ since I had had two kids and he no longer found me attractive. When I got upset, Mohamad began beating me and threw me out of the house. I was extremely upset, but after a few hours I returned to my house, and again asked Mohamad about the woman. Not only did Mohamad refuse to apologize for his actions, he actually threatened to kill me if I said anything to anyone about his extra-marital relationships. I was a mess. I could never have imagined that my husband would cheat on me or beat me so brutally only a month after I had given birth to our son. I was an emotional wreck; I was severely depressed; so when Mohamad gave me some pills that he said would calm my nerves, I took them.”
Breaking into tears, Raheleh continued: “A little while after giving me the pills, Mohamad went to lay down. I remembered discovering a steel pipe in the storage room when I was cleaning out that room a few days earlier. I went to the storage room, picked up the steel pipe and went to where Momhad was laying down. At this point, he seemed like a demonic monster to me. I was very scared, so I began to hit him with the steel pipe. But he kept coming after me, attacking me, and beating me repeatedly. So I fought back. When he finally stopped moving, I saw my daughter in the room and I turned off the light so she would not see what had happened. Until the very moment that I put Mohamad’s body in the oil tank, I thought he was some kind of a live demon who would repeatedly attack and abuse me.”
Raheleh appears to have been suffering from severe post-partum depression during the incident (she had given birth to the couple's second child only a month and half prior to the incident). Further, based on her husband’s abusive treatment of her over the years, she also portrayed classic signs of battered-women’s syndrome. Regardless of the evidence about her altered mental state and mental and emotional illnesses, Raheleh was found guilty of pre-meditated first degree murder, and was sentenced to death by hanging.
Raheleh’s in-laws, who took physical custody of her two young children upon her arrest, have refused to allow the young mother to see her children during the time that she has been in prison.
Raheleh’s execution is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, December 20, 2008.
The SaveDelara campaign strongly condemns the execution sentence of Raheleh Zamani, and calls on human rights organizations, activists, and groups to contact officials in Iran and urge them to stop the planned hanging of the young mother. ICAHK would like to point out that under Article 630 of the Iranian Penal Code, if the situation had been reversed, and it had been Raheleh's husband who became aware of adulterous behaviour, he would have been able to kill both her and her lover without charge.
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Topic: Raheleh Zamani Mullah Justice (Read 1022 times)