I stand before you all today, with a serious story. It is unfortunately not a happy event like the 2010 coming to South Africa, but rather a sad story, which is reality.
Situated in Tehran, Iran, an 18-year-old Iranian girl, Nazanin had been sentenced to death for killing the man she says tried to rape her 15-year-old niece and her. They had been walking in the park, when 3 men started harassing them. The men pushed her on the floor and tried to rape her, to protect herself she took a knife out of her pocket and stabbed one of them in the hand. The girls tried to escape but the men overtook them, this is when she stabbed one of them in the chest, eventually killing him.
She had stated in court: “I did not want to kill him! I am not a bad-doer. Mr Judge, what do you want to do with me? I am a girl child! How many times do I have to say that I did it to defend myself and my niece?” At first the verdict was death by hanging, in the criminal court of the Islamic Republic of Iran. After a long period, during which Nazanin was jailed, she and her family went through a lot of struggling.
With the help of Allah and Former Iranian Miss World 2003, Nazanin Afsin-Jam, who helped Nazanin by drawing an international petition, this had helped her a lot. After 2 long years, Nazanin was granted a re-trial. This case had involved, the UN, with the secretary general Mr Kofi Annan addressing the matter. Finally after long consultation between judges, the incident was recognized as an act of self-defence. Accordingly, they asked Nazanin to pay retribution, blood money to receive pardon from the family of the deceased.
This is one of our sisters stories in the world which are having great difficulty been a women and standing up. Nazanin was a lucky girl, to be able to get international help and been able to stand up. Each day human rights are been violated. In Iran, boys can be executed from the age 15, and a girl from 9. Though executions are carried out at age 18. Each year at least 81 people are executed in Iran, in 2004 apparently 159 people were executed.
After hearing this do you believe women are treated justly. I don’t think so. Girls of today you are the mothers of the future, so stand for your rights and don’t let men run over you. I leave you with a point, a lawyer had said if that had been Nazanin killed by a man, he would have likely not have received the death sentence because the value of his life would be twice as much as Nazanin’s. Aren’t women suppose to be beholders to the future generations?
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