Footballer’s mistress is hanged for killing wife

Dawn execution: "temporary wife" Shalha Jahed changed her plea twice
12 April 2012

A footballer's mistress was hanged in Iran today after being convicted of murdering her love rival.

Shalha Jahed was the "temporary wife" of former soccer star Nasser Mohammad Khani.

She was charged in 2002 with stabbing to death Laleh Saharkhizan, the player's wife, and convicted of murder in 2004 and again last year after her appeal was denied.

"Temporary wives" are a legal way for Iranian men to have mistresses outside marriage, with the agreements lasting from a few hours to a few years.

Jahed was hanged at dawn, after more than eight years in jail, the official IRNA news agency said, in a case that has captivated the Iranian public. The death sentence was based on the Islamic law of "qisas" — eye for an eye retribution.

Human rights groups, including Amnesty International, had campaigned for Jahed's sentence to be overturned.

Just before her execution at Tehran's Evin prison, Jahed, 40, prayed peacefully, then burst into tears and shouted for her life to be spared. The victim's son pulled the chair from under her feet as Jahed gasped for breath.

Footballer Khani also attended the hanging.

Lawyers spent an hour talking to Ms Saharkhizan's family before the hanging, trying to convince them to spare Jahed's life, but were unsuccessful.

Under Iranian law, men and women can commit to a "temporary marriage" for an agreed period after a sum of money is paid to the woman. In Iran, men are allowed up to four legal wives and any number of temporary wives. Women can only be married to one man at a time.

Jahed initially denied any involvement in Ms Saharkhizan's killing but later admitted it, then subsequently withdrew the confession.

Several Iranian experts have said she may have been wrongfully convicted. Murder, rape, armed robbery, kidnapping and drug trafficking are punishable by death in Iran.

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