The fifth branch of Iran’s high court approved the death verdict for Khadijeh Jahed (known as Shahla) for the third time in five years. Jahed’s attorney announced that her client will not file for another appeal.

Abdolsamad Khoramshahi, who represents Jahed, believes that there are many legal and procedural faults with the court preceding, which have been left unanswered by the judge and other officials.

While arguing that a fair verdict can only be produced by a fair trial, Khoramshahi insists that Jahed’s trial was ridden with legal and procedural faults. For instance, Shahla did not have access to an attorney’s until a year after she had been arrested, even though she had the right to speak to an attorney from the moment of her arrest. If she had access to an attorney from the beginning, says Khoramshahi, Jahed would not have announced in court that her confession was extracted under pressure, and that she will confess to two hundred more murders if she is taken to the interrogation room two hundred more times.

Among other objections that Khoramshahi makes to the trial is the fact that the judge believed Shahla to be guilty even before announcing an official verdict. Khoramshahi says, “From a legal standpoint, a judge that believes a defendant to be guilty can no longer pass a verdict, because he has already voiced his opinion and, as such, he has lost the right to pass an official verdict.” The judge later denied having made up his mind earlier and accused the media of fabricating his comments. .

Khoramshahi also charges the court with not allowing his client to call witnesses to the stand. He criticizes the court for not allowing more discovery time for a case that has been discussed all over the country. He says that the only witness in this case, Shahla’s brother, was called to the stand only after he made repeated requests. Many other individuals who could provide information to the court were barred from being witnesses in the case.

Khoramshahi says that her client has lost hope and that she will not file for an appeal. He says that her client wants to be either pardoned or executed. The woman who was murdered in the fall of 1381 [2003] by Shahla was the wife of a famous Iranian soccer player, Naser Mohammadkhani. Shahla, who has been sentenced to death, was Mohammadkhani’s mistress.

A while ago, one of Shahla’s close friends published an open letter stating that Shahla was the child of a dysfunctional society, and that her death would not solve anything. Nevertheless, the Saharkhizan family, which is representing the victim in this case, is not showing any signs of forgiveness [according to Iranian law, a victim’s family can pardon a murderer who has been sentenced to death].