The last “peace and reconciliation” meeting in the case of Reyhaneh Jabbari, sentenced to death for the murder of Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi, culminated without a resolution on Wednesday October 15.
The Etemad daily reported on Thursday October 16 that Mohammad Shahriyari, the head of the Tehran Criminal Court, said: “The final Peace and Reconciliation meeting took place in the presence of Reyhaneh Jabbari, her mother and the family of the deceased, and the next of kin did not agree to forego the death sentence.”
The meeting was attended by Reyhaneh Jabbari, the accused, her family, her lawyer, the son of the deceased and Judge Shariyari of the Peace and Reconciliation Unit. Jabbari was questioned by Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi’s son. At the request of both parties, reporters were not allowed in the session.
The son of Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi, the deceased, has been quoted after a session on Tuesday as saying that the only way for him to forego his right to Qesas and forgive Jabbari is for her “to tell the truth about the incident.”
Another son had told Shargh news that Jabbari’s mother just cried at the meeting like all other meetings. “We only had one condition to forgive her and that was for her to tell the truth. It is not just us that think Reyhaneh is not telling the truth but even the judges that have handled the case believe that she is hiding something.”
Sarbandi’s son says that when they asked her to tell the truth, she did not give a convincing answer. “This issue is still unclear to her and she has not felt death,” he added.
He went on to say that there will be no more meetings and that his family is waiting for the sentence to be executed.
Reyhaneh Jabbari is a 26-year-old woman who was arrested seven years ago for the murder of Morteza Abdolal Sarbandi and sentenced to death.
