May 1, 2009

Delara Darabi executed in Iran

Delara Darabi, a 22-year-old Iranian woman accused of killing a relative when she was 17, has been hanged in Iran on Friday morning, according to Iran Focus and Amnesty International.

Two Twitter accounts broke the news to the world some five hours before these initial media reports confirmed it. Shortly after the tweets, a Farsi-language community Web site also reported that Darabi had been executed.

The first Twitter account to report the news was @DelaraDarabi, the official Twitter of the "international Save Delara!™ campaign" (http://www.savedelara.com/). The other account is attributed to Iranian-American human rights attorney Lily Mazahery (@LilyMazahery), who has long spoken out about the Darabi case.

The @DelaraDarabi account delivered the news with a single tweet:

  1. Delara Darabi
    DelaraDarabi (Rasht, Iran) @DelaraDarabi was hanged to death in Iran's Rasht prison.

It then began retweeting reaction from both Mazahery as well as other Twitterers, specifically addressing one tweet:

  1. Delara Darabi
    DelaraDarabi (Rasht, Iran) It is. She was hanged not too long ago. RT @dakster9: I hope this is not true. RT @LilyMazahery: @DelaraDarabi was hanged to death by t ...

Mazahery's tweets started with the news and became more animated over time.

  1. Lily Mazahery
    LilyMazahery (Washington, D.C./New York) @DelaraDarabi was hanged to death by the terrorist government of Iran today.
  2. Lily Mazahery
    LilyMazahery (Washington, D.C./New York) I feel like my life just ended with @DelaraDarabi. There is NO forgiveness for Hayedeh Amir Eftekhari for what she's done.
  3. Lily Mazahery
    LilyMazahery (Washington, D.C./New York) HAYEDEH YOU MURDERED AN INNOCENT GIRL OVER YOUR STUPID VENDETTA AGAINST HER FATHER. YOU EVIL EVIL EVIL CREATURE. HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?

Darabi has long denied being guilty in this case, causing a surge in her support around the world. Amnesty International reported that her death was "imminent," on April 19, before an agreement appeared to give her a two-month stay. Jerusalem Post reports today that Amnesty International is "outraged" by the execution.

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