Rupert Colville, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said that the OHCHR was shocked and saddened by the execution on 25 October of Ms. Reyhaneh Jabbari, who had been sentenced to death for the alleged murder of Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi, a former employee of the Iranian Intelligence Ministry. The execution of Ms. Jabbari had been carried out on 25 October despite repeated calls on the authorities by various United Nations human rights mechanisms not to execute her.

Serious concerns had been raised about due process in connection with Ms. Jabbari’s case, in particular the allegation that her conviction had been based on confessions made under duress. The court had also apparently failed to take all relevant circumstantial evidence into account.

On 7 July 2007, Ms. Jabbari had reportedly stabbed Mr. Sarbandi in the shoulder after he had offered to hire her to redesign his office and then taken her to a residence, where, according to her, he had attempted to sexually assault her. Ms. Jabbari maintained that her actions had been taken in self-defence, in order to prevent a serious assault on her person.

However, it was the Government’s responsibility to prevent execution, especially when there was so much uncertainty about the events surrounding the killing, and concerns over due process.

Mr. Colville said that the OHCHR was very concerned about the increased use of the death penalty in Iran, as highlighted in the report of the Special Rapporteur on Iran.
Iran was scheduled to appear before the Human Rights Council under the Universal Periodic Review on 31 October, and the OHCHR called on the Iranian authorities to make an explicit commitment to immediately institute a moratorium on the death penalty, particularly in light of the high number of executions and the continuing serious concerns about fair trial and due process