Iran Woman Awaits Execution

An Iranian woman is about to be executed for killing a police chief who allegedly tried to rape her, Amnesty International said yesterday.

Afsaneh Nouroozi, 32, was reportedly arrested six years ago after killing the head of police intelligence in Kish, southern Iran.

At her trial she said that she had acted in self-defence. Her lawyer cited an article of Iran's Islamic criminal law that allows citizens to take "proportionate" action to defend "life, honour, chastity, property or freedom" when it is impractical to summon help from the authorities.

Nouroozi was nevertheless sentenced to death, and the sentence is reported to have been upheld by the supreme court last month. The only person able to grant clemency at this stage is the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Amnesty believes the execution is imminent.

The case has aroused controversy because of implications for women's rights.

The 83 people reportedly executed in Iran so far this year have been male. At least five women were executed last year, four for killing their husbands.