Execution Of A Teenage Girl

23 July, 2006 by The_Boss

BBC TWO Thursday 27 July 2006 9.00-10.00pm

On 15 August 2004 a 16-year-old girl was hanged in a public square in Neka, a small Iranian town by the Caspian Sea. Atefah Sahaaleh's death sentence was for "crimes against chastity".

Iran is a signatory to an international convention that promises not to sentence to death or execute those under 18. The only evidence against Atefah was her own, forced confession. Atefah railed against her judge in court for its unfairness, but this was her undoing.

Judge Haji Reza'i, who was also the local mullah, prosecutor and head of the city administration, personally obtained permission from Iran's Supreme Court to execute her. He put the noose around her neck himself before she was hoisted on a crane jib arm to her death.

Featuring undercover filming in Atefah's home town, eyewitness accounts and drama reconstruction, Execution Of A Teenager tells the powerful story of the life and tragic death of an ordinary girl, under Iran's mullahs.