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Iran: “Prisoner of Colours” is Executed

Categories: Middle East & North Africa, Iran, Digital Activism, Governance, Human Rights, Law, Protest, Women & Gender

Delara Darabi

Delara Darabi

On Friday morning, Iranian authorities executed Delara Darabi [1], a 23 year-old woman, who was convicted for a murder at the age of 17 and held at the Rasht Central Prison for several years. Delara had earned notoriety as “the prisoner of colours” for her haunting paintings of prison life that were admired by many.

Amnesty International declared [2]in a statement that Delara Darabi was executed despite having been given a two-month stay of execution by the Head of the Judiciary on April 19.

Several bloggers, including some lawyers, shared their feelings on her execution, and criticized the Iranian judiciary system for executing people for crimes they committed as minors.

Mohmmad Mostafai, a lawyer who followed Delara's case closely, says [3] [fa]:

قاضی جاوید نیا حکم اعدام دلارا را صادر کرد. پس از مدتی دادستان رشت شد. از زمانی که او متصدی این پست گردید. یک نفر در این شهر سنگسار شد و امروز دلارا دارابی جانش از بدنش جدا شد.
ولی چرا؟
عده ای می گویند دلارا مقصر است. عده ای می گویند پدرش مقصر است و عده ای می گویند وکلیش؟ من می گویم دستگاه قضایی. چرا با وجودی که بسیاری از کشورهای دنیا اعدام اطفال زیر ۱۸ سال را منع کرده اند دستگاه قضایی بر اعدام اطفال پافشاری می کند؟

Judge Javid Nya ordered the execution. Shortly after he became the prosecutor of Rasht, he ordered a person to be stoned, and today Delara Darabi's soul left her body. Some say Delara was guilty. Some say it was her father, and others say her lawyer is guilty. But I say the judicial system is guilty. Why does the judiciary system insist on executing minors, while most countries in the world have banned the execution of children under 18?

Mostafai who has defended several minors in Iran's prisons, adds that they killed Delara without informing her lawyer and family because they knew “millions of people” in the world support her.

Maybe Mostafai is overstating the amount of people who were aware of the case, but Delara certainly had many supporters in both virtual and real life.

Amnesty International in London recently organized a protest meeting in front of the Islamic Republic's embassy in London to stop her execution.

In the virtual world, a Save Delara campaign [4]was launched with activity on twitter [5] and Facebook [6].

Baloch says [7] the Iranian state “sows madness and reaps human beings”. The blogger questions what the presidential candidates’ opinion on this execution are.

Sassan Aghayi wrote [fa] a poem titled “Maybe tomorrow” about Delara. She says the story is beyond writing and requires poetry. One verse goes:

شاید همین فردا
و باز همین فردا، پس فردا
فرشته‌ی مرگ سیراب نشده،
آغوش تازه‌ای می‌خواهد؛
شاید همین تو را.

Maybe tomorrow or the day after tomorrow
Unsatisfied Death Angel wants a new one to hold
Maybe this one is you

Ardavan writes [8] [fa] that finally Delara will sleep tonight without nightmares.