It is with a heavy heart that I write these words: Yet another innocent Iranian girl faces imminent risk of execution by the Islamic regime for a crime that she never committed.
On Saturday, January 27, 2007, Iran’s Supreme Court upheld the death sentence of Delara Darabi for a second time. Delara, who is now 20 years old, faces death by public hanging for a murder that took place when she was 17 years old. According to newspaper and court reports, after murdering a woman related to Delara, Delara’s 19 year old boyfriend, Amir Hossein, convinced Delara to admit responsibility for the murder to protect him from execution. Apparently, both teenagers believed that because Delara was under the age of 18, she could not be sentenced to death. This belief proved to be devastatingly false.
With complete disregard for its obligations under the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and despite overwhelming evidence of Delara’s innocence, as well as the teenager’s repeated denials about having had any role in the commission of the crime, a court in the city of Rasht found the girl-child guilty of murder based solely on her initial claim of responsibility and sentenced her to death by hanging. Since that ruling, the Islamic regime has repeatedly demonstrated patent disregard for its promises to the international community and to the rights of Iranian children by upholding Delara’s death sentence.
Until recently, Delara had proven to be a remarkably poised young prisoner with an amazing talent for painting and drawing. She had used her gift to compile a diary of her pain as a child prisoner on death row. From the dark confines of her prison cell, Delara produced an impressive collection of paintings that speak of the horrors of prison, of torture, of beatings, of hopelessness, loneliness, and the loss of a child’s innocence. They are haunting images of injustice and brutality. They are the stories of the innocent women and children of Iran, shackled by the injustices of a brutal regime. They are a teenager’s diary of crimes against humanity committed by the very government that should serve as her protector, but is, instead, her jailer and her executioner.
In retaliation to exposing their horrifying crimes, the officials of the Islamic regime took away the only remaining outlet of Delara’s pain: They confiscated her painting materials. When Delara used coal and whatever else she could find to paint her pain on the walls of her prison, they subjected the young artist -- nicknamed “prisoner of colors” -- to brutal forms of emotional and physical abuse. They banned her from painting altogether, and they prevented her from having any visitors or contacting her lawyer except for twice a month briefly by phone. Their abuse proved too much for young Delara, who, true to her sensitive disposition as an artist, wears her pain woefully close to the surface of her skin.
On January 20, 2007, Delara attempted suicide by cutting her wrists.
Fortunately, her cell-mate noticed the incident and called for help. Delara’s emaciated body was rushed to the hospital, where, by what can only be deemed a miracle, doctors were able to revive her and bring her back to life. As of the date of this letter, Delara remains in critical condition and weighs only 35 kilos. Her family and those close to her case are extremely worried about her health, both physically and emotionally.
The silent screams of innocent girls like Delara must be acknowledged by each and every one of us. We MUST express our outrage, voice our anger, and show our support to those who can not speak for themselves. Anything less would be less than human, less than American, and most certainly, less than Persian.
As humans with a conscious and a heart, we owe this to young Delara and to every innocent life that is subjected to the brutalities of an evil regime. We owe this to the daughters of Cyrus the Great. We owe this to humanity .
Please express your outrage and stand up for the rights of a girl-child who can not stand up for herself by signing this petition:
Thanks to all your hard work over the past couple of months, we got Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to sign on to our bill and last week the Senate voted to Restore Affordable Birth Control! Now, its up to the House to make this a reality for the millions of college students and low income women it impacts. We expect ABC to come to a vote in the House next week, so take 5 minutes today to save birth control!
2. After you've sent your email, take 2 minutes and ask your friends to do the same. Again, we expect ABC to come to a vote in the House next week so time is of the essence.
3. Repost the link in a note on facebook and/or a bulletin on myspace asking your friends to email her as well. For most people it takes them seeing this three times to actually take action. So, posting notes and bulletins, and/or changing your 'status' all raise awareness about the urgency of this issue.
It is truly our collective hard work and outreach that has gotten us here. We're almost there! Thank you for taking another 5 minutes today!
"You must not let your life run in the ordinary way; do something that nobody else has done, something that will dazzle the world." ~ Paramahansa Yogananda
