Iran hangs former soccer player's mistress

[fazers_on_stun]

December 2, 2010 - 1:49am
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI
Associated Press

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran on Wednesday hanged a former soccer player's mistress _ known as a "temporary wife" _ who was convicted of murdering her love rival in a case that captivated the Iranian public for several years.

Shahla Jahed was hanged at dawn, after spending more than eight years in jail for the slaying of the player's wife, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Jahed had become what is known as a "temporary wife" of former soccer star Nasser Mohammad Khani. She was charged in 2002 with stabbing his wife, Laleh Saharkhizan, to death and convicted of murder in 2004 and again in 2009, after her appeal was denied.

Contracts with "temporary wives" are a legal way for Iranian men to have mistresses outside marriage, with the agreements lasting from between several hours to a few years.

Wednesday's death sentence was based on the Islamic law of "qisas" _ or eye for an eye retribution.

International human rights groups, including Amnesty International, had campaigned for Jahed's punishment to be halted.

The IRNA report said that just before the hanging at Tehran's Evin prison, the 40-year-old Jahed prayed peacefully, then burst into tears and cries, shouting for her life to be spared.

The victim's son pulled the chair from under her feet as Jahed gasped for breath in the remaining moments of her life, the khabaronline.ir news website said. The former soccer striker, Khani, also attended the hanging.

The reports also said that judiciary officials spent almost an hour in talks with Saharkhizan's family before the hanging, trying to convince them to spare Jahed's life but were unsuccessful.

Prominent artists and respected cultural figures in Iran have also for years appealed to the victim's family to show mercy.

Under Iranian law, men and women can commit to a "temporary marriage" for an agreed period of time after a certain amount of money is paid to the woman.

In Iran, men are allowed up to four legal wives under Islam and any number of temporary wives. Women can only be married to one man at a time.

Jahed initially denied any involvement in Saharkhizan's killing but later confessed to the stabbing, only to subsequently withdraw the confession. Several Iranian experts have said she may have been wrongfully convicted.

Murder, rape, armed robbery, kidnapping and drug trafficking are crimes punishable with the death penalty in Iran.


(Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI
Associated Press

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran on Wednesday hanged a former soccer player's mistress _ known as a "temporary wife" _ who was convicted of murdering her love rival in a case that captivated the Iranian public for several years.

Shahla Jahed was hanged at dawn, after spending more than eight years in jail for the slaying of the player's wife, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Jahed had become what is known as a "temporary wife" of former soccer star Nasser Mohammad Khani. She was charged in 2002 with stabbing his wife, Laleh Saharkhizan, to death and convicted of murder in 2004 and again in 2009, after her appeal was denied.

Contracts with "temporary wives" are a legal way for Iranian men to have mistresses outside marriage, with the agreements lasting from between several hours to a few years.

Wednesday's death sentence was based on the Islamic law of "qisas" _ or eye for an eye retribution.

International human rights groups, including Amnesty International, had campaigned for Jahed's punishment to be halted.

The IRNA report said that just before the hanging at Tehran's Evin prison, the 40-year-old Jahed prayed peacefully, then burst into tears and cries, shouting for her life to be spared.

The victim's son pulled the chair from under her feet as Jahed gasped for breath in the remaining moments of her life, the khabaronline.ir news website said. The former soccer striker, Khani, also attended the hanging.

The reports also said that judiciary officials spent almost an hour in talks with Saharkhizan's family before the hanging, trying to convince them to spare Jahed's life but were unsuccessful.

Prominent artists and respected cultural figures in Iran have also for years appealed to the victim's family to show mercy.

Under Iranian law, men and women can commit to a "temporary marriage" for an agreed period of time after a certain amount of money is paid to the woman.

In Iran, men are allowed up to four legal wives under Islam and any number of temporary wives. Women can only be married to one man at a time.

Jahed initially denied any involvement in Saharkhizan's killing but later confessed to the stabbing, only to subsequently withdraw the confession. Several Iranian experts have said she may have been wrongfully convicted.

Murder, rape, armed robbery, kidnapping and drug trafficking are crimes punishable with the death penalty in Iran.

In most Western societies, hanging was accomplished on a platform where the victim would fall a certain distance determined by their weight, so as to snap the neck and kill the victim almost instantly. Kicking the chair out from under means the victim chokes and suffocates until the blood supply to the brain causes unconciousness. A much more cruel way to kill, IMO.

 

[squallypie]

why would that stupid mistress murder the wife in the first place?

The "mistress" concept of the Shia's amazes me.. its like fetching a prostitute and marrying her "temporarily" and doing with her what u intended to do with her, but without being guilty of adultery as you are "married" to her.

 

[jsc]

why would that stupid mistress murder the wife in the first place?

If she actually did it.
This is also the country once ruled by the great Ayatollah Khomeini who said:
"It is better for a girl to marry at such a time when she would begin menstruation at her husband's house, rather than her father's home. Any father marrying his daughter so young will have a permanent place in heaven. " ["Tahrirolvasyleh", fourth edition, Qom, Iran, 1990]

 

[strangestranger]

odd, odd society. In some cases tradition is good, in others, like this they need to wake the hell up and get some education.

As ever I think a mass culling of humans is needed.

 

[fazers_on_stun]

Some other news about some cleric in Pakistan now offering a $6K award if somebody kills the Christian woman accused of insulting Mohammed, just in case her hanging sentence gets overturned despite the fact that a gov't commission there already determined she did not insult the prophet as alleged:

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A hardline Pakistani Islamic cleric has offered a reward to anyone who kills a Christian woman convicted of blasphemy against Islam.

Maulana Yousef Qureshi made the announcement Friday at a rally in the northwestern town of Peshawar.

He said his mosque would give $6,000 to the person who kills Asia Bibi.

"We will strongly resist any attempt to repeal laws which provide protection to the sanctity of Holy Prophet Mohammad," Qureshi told a rally of hardline Islamists.

"Any one who kills Asia will be given 500,000 rupees in reward from Masjid Mohabat Khan," he said referring to his mosque.

...

Punishment 'at all costs'
Bibi, a 45-year-old mother of four, is the first woman to be sentenced to death under the blasphemy law.

Blasphemy convictions are common in mainly Muslim Pakistan. Although the death sentence has never been carried out as most convictions are thrown out on appeal, angry mobs and fanatics have killed many people accused of blasphemy in the past.

In 2006, Qureshi and his followers announced rewards amounting to over $1 million for anyone who killed Danish cartoonists who drew caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad that had enraged Muslims worldwide.

After her conviction, Bibi appealed to President Asif Ali Zardari to pardon her, saying she had been wrongly accused by neighbors due to a personal dispute.

Last week, a government minister said an initial inquiry into the case showed she had not committed blasphemy. But the Lahore High Court last month prevented Zardari from granting a pardon and ruled that the High Court should be allowed to decide her appeal.

"No president, no parliament and no government has any right to interfere in the commandants of Islam. Islamic punishment will be implemented at all costs," said Qureshi.

Bibi is currently in jail. Authorities were not immediately available for comment on Quereshi's announcement.

Obviously under Sharia doctrine, not only are you guilty before the trial but you need to be hanged AND murdered just to make sure...

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

Its like, look, theyre different, or unpopular
Its attitudes like this, with this willingness, thats allowed for Hitlers of the world

I know God wants the truth, as He is the truth
Accordingly, when things like this happens is His name, adults thinking as children are still adults in Gods eyes

 

[fazers_on_stun]

TBH, I don't know much about Islam, but at least the way it is interpreted by a number of its clerics or imams, such as Sharia law, it reminds me of the hard-core old testament fundamentalists, only carried to an extreme. Women seem to be treated as chattels (witness the "72 virgins in heaven" promise for martyrs), intolerance and threats of violence rampant.

 

[strangestranger]

Yeah for some reason all the stuff that christians conveniently forget about is followed to the letter by a few followers of islam. Scary that in some places they are given respect while here similar christians are usually mocked.

Of course similarly you can claim that at least they are proper followers and not the false ones that make up 99.99% of christians who pick and choose what bits they adhere to.

That is how it looks to me anyhow.

 

[buwish]

Iran's "version" of Shar'iah is utterly disgusting and skewed beyond belief. The above-mentioned story is yet another example of it.

 

[jsc]

Yeah for some reason all the stuff that christians conveniently forget about is followed to the letter by a few followers of islam.

It's more than a "few followers of islam". This is one of the core beliefs of Islam.

 

[strangestranger]

Yeah but I often wonder how long such traditions would actually last if there was a breakdown in the leadership of the religion. Look at attitudes even in the west regarding church and religion, even a few decades ago people would be pretty shocked at the openness of people's attitudes and I reckon it would be the same in a few other places. I few decades without certain people in power or able to influence governments and cracks would appear. It is usually only a few really serious people who are needed to control a large majority.

At least that is how I see it.

 

[Reynod]

This topic has been closed by Reynod