An Iranian woman who died of a heart attack as she awaits her execution was allegedly still hanged, only for the mother of her victim to watch.
Zahra Ismaili was reportedly made to watch 16 men being hanged ahead of her, while she waits for her turn at Rajai Shahr Prison, west of the capital Tehran.
“Zahra’s heart stopped and she died before she was taken to the gallows,” her lawyer, Omid Moradi, wrote in a statement.
“They hanged her lifeless body, and the victim’s mother, Fatemeh Asal-Mahi, personally kicked the stool from under her feet so she could see her daughter-in-law’s corpse on the gallows for even a few seconds.”
Ismaili’s death certificate states that her cause of death was “cardiac arrest”, but her body was still hanged as it is considered the victim’s mother’s right.
The mother-of-two was convicted of killing her husband, Alireza Zamani – an high-ranking official in the Iranian intelligence ministry.
Moradi claimed her husband had been abusive to both Ismaili and their children, and that she had acted to defend herself and her daughter.
While the Islamic Republic has carried bout many death penalties, executing 17 people in a single day is considered extreme even by Iran’s standards.
According to the Iran Human Rights Monitor, Ismaili was one of three women to be executed in Iran in recent weeks, making 114 women executed under Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s tenure.
In 2020, the country executed at least 233 people, including at least three who were minors at the time of their alleged offenses.
Iran had drawn criticism from the international community for its death penalty, including those who were convicted of non-violent offenses and crimes committed by minors.