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UWinnipeg’s Global College Aids Iranian Woman Facing Imminent Execution

Nazanin Fatehi

Nazanin Fatehi

A young Iranian woman facing execution within the next seven days is getting help from The University of Winnipeg Global College and UWinnipeg President Lloyd Axworthy, Canada’s former Foreign Affairs Minister.

Nazanin Fatehi, who was sentenced to death on January 3, 2006, may be hanged within the week. She was 17 at the time of an attempted rape and is facing execution for an act of self-defence for accidentally stabbing to death one of the three men who attempted to rape her and her 16-year old niece in a park in Karaj, Iran.

The University of Winnipeg is calling on all of Canada’s post-secondary institutions and all defenders of human rights globally to voice their opposition to the planned execution of Nazanin Fatehi whose only crime was to defend herself and her niece against sexual predation. “Time is of the essence,” said Axworthy who is urging students, human rights and women’s organizations, cultural communities, governments of all levels and individual citizens to take up the cause and make their voices heard in support of Nazanin Fatehi and other innocents like her.