After 17 years in prison, a 60 year-old Kurd woman is on the verge of execution. Mohabbat Mahmoudi was arrested 17 years ago for defending herself against a man who intended to rape her. Nine years later in 2009, Urmia’s court sentenced Mohabbat Mahmoudi to death, a conviction which was later upheld by the Supreme Court on July 11, 2010, the verdict however was delayed to this day. She has been currently held in women’s Ward in Central Prison of Urmia, northwest of Iran. The death sentence is recently sent to the Implementation of Verdict Unit and will be carried out by the order of Judiciary. The victim had twice married. Both his wives objected to Mahmoudi’s execution, his brother however demanded to carry out the sentence. The man’s family has set 308,000 USD as blood money, an amount that Mohabat’s family cannot afford. Under Islamic law, murder victims’ relatives have the power to pardon the offender and accept the blood money instead.

Iran: The longest serving Kurd woman prisoner on the verge of execution