Iran shifts execution of woman on deathrow as psychologist is hanged for “heresy in religion”

She was sentenced to death by hanging for killing a man she said was trying to sexually abuse her. The Iranian woman, Reyhaneh Jabbari, 26, was due to be hanged on Monday but the execution was postponed after she was moved to a Rajaishar prison, west of Tehran.

Ms Jabbari was arrested in 2007 for the murder of Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi, a former employee of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence. She was placed in solitary confinement for two months, where she reportedly could not access a lawyer or her family and was sentenced to death by a criminal court in Tehran in 2009.

Activist say an online campaign had persuaded the state to give her a 10-day reprieve. There were also reports that her execution was postponed so that Mr Abdolali Sarbandi’s family could be consulted.

According to human rights group, Amnesty International, Ms Jabbari admitted to stabbing Mr Abdolali Sarbandi once in the back, she alleged that there was someone else in the house who actually killed him. Activists hold that her claim is believed to have never been properly investigated.

A campaign calling for a halt to the execution was launched on Facebook and Twitter, using the hashtag #SaveReyhanehJabbari.

The development comes after activists said a former psychologist had been executed for “corruption on Earth and heresy in religion” near the city of Karaj on Wednesday.

Activists said Mohsen Amir Aslani, 37, was arrested nine years ago after giving religious classes in which he gave his own interpretations of the Quran. He was subsequently accused by the authorities of insulting the Prophet Jonah.

Iran’s judiciary has however denied that Mr Amir Aslani’s execution was linked to his religious beliefs.

The Guardian reports that officials instead accused him of having had illicit sexual relationships with some of the people who attended his classes.