Woman facing death for prostitution ‘not mentally disabled’
Leyla Mafi, aged 21, was sentenced more than a year ago by a court in Arak, central Iran, for having illegal sex. The death verdict is now being reviewed by the Supreme Court, Mohammad Hossein Pourianmehr said yesterday.
Hanging is the usual form of execution in Iran.
Ms Mafi’s case was brought to world attention last week by London-based Amnesty International. The human rights watchdog said she had the mental capacity of an eight-year-old.
Mr Pourianmehr said Ms Mafi was in full mental and physical health and had confessed.
Ms Mafi started working as a prostitute when she was 14, Mr Pourianmehr said, and has two children now being cared for at a state orphanage.
However, Amnesty had said the woman’s mother forced her into prostitution when she was eight. It said the girl was raped repeatedly and gave birth to a baby when she was nine.
Last summer, a 16-year old girl, widely said to be suffering from a psychological disorder, was executed in northern Iran, on charges of having an illegal sexual relationship.
