AJC Denounces Iranian Regime's Execution of Shahla Jahed

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Dec 01, 2010, 10:46 ET

NEW YORK, Dec. 1, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Jewish Committee strongly condemned the execution of Shahla Jahed, an Iranian woman accused of murder, in Tehran this morning.

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Jahed denied that she had murdered the wife of a soccer star with whom she was allegedly having an affair, saying that the confession had been forced upon her.

"A few hours ago, AJC joined with other human rights organizations around the world in demanding international pressure on Iran to stop this barbaric execution," said AJC Executive Director David Harris. "However, this brutal regime is totally contemptuous of civilized norms, moral standards and international opinion. That is why we awoke to the heartbreaking news of Shahla Jahed's execution."

Jahed was hanged in Tehran's notorious Evin prison. At her trial, after describing the torture she endured during her nine years of incarceration in Evin, she declared that she would rather be falsely convicted of other murders than return there.

SOURCE American Jewish Committee