Iran: Too little, too late -- Afsaneh Norouzi�s death sentence and pardon - news.amnesty - Amnesty International

Iran: Too little, too late -- Afsaneh Norouzi�s death sentence and pardon - news.amnesty - Amnesty International: "There is no criminal justice system in the world that can claim infallibility in determining guilt or innocence. However, in any democratic society, the justice system must make every effort to ensure fairness. A justice system must not only strive to be accurate, but must also recognize its imperfections and account for them. This means that it must allow for the possibility of error by admitting them when they are found and by compensating the innocent.
The 36-year-old Iranian woman, Afsaneh Norouzi, who was recently spared the death penalty and finally released from prison, deserved her freedom and her right to life. But, like her unfair trial that resulted in her wrongful capital murder conviction, her 'too little, too late' pardon was also grossly unfair and offered no compensation whatsoever for the litany of injustice she has endured since her detention eight years ago.
Afsaneh Norouzi was arrested on 10 July 1997 in Tehran along with her husband, Mostafa Jahangiri, three days after the body of Behzad Aghdam Moghadam was found in his duplex villa in Kish Island, a vacation and free trade zone in southern Iran. Behzad Aghdam Moghadam's bare naked body was found stabbed in his children's bedroom. His penis was partially cut off. Bloodied walls and disarray suggested a struggle. The police immediately suspected a sex-related killing. Less than a month later, five detectives and forensic experts confirmed that the killing was an act of self-defense against rape by a woman. By then, Afsaneh Norouzi, an incommunicado detainee in police custody, had also repeatedly confessed to stabbing Behzad Aghdam Moghadam with kitchen knives to protect herself from rape. "