Judicial Authority Announces Qisas Sentence for Main Defendant in Benita Case

The head of the criminal courts in a province of Tehran announced that the main defendant in the murder case of "Benita," an eight-month-old girl, has been sentenced to qisas (retribution), while the second and third defendants have been sentenced to prison and lashes. According to the IRIB news agency, Mohsen Eftekhari announced on Saturday, October 1, that the court has sentenced the main defendant to qisas and "supplementary punishments," while the second and third defendants have been sentenced to prison and lashes. Mr. Eftekhari did not specify the details of the "supplementary punishments" for the main defendant or the prison and lash sentences for the second and third defendants. Previously, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the spokesperson for the judiciary, had stated that the prison sentence for the second defendant was "relatively heavy." The prosecutor's office did not find the murder charge applicable to the second defendant and issued a "prohibition of prosecution for murder" which the family of "Benita" protested. In this regard, Jafar Kousha, the lawyer for Benita's family, announced last Wednesday that this protest "remains in effect." According to Mr. Kousha, the court has decided to refer the second defendant's case to the criminal prosecution office for further investigation. On Thursday, July 20, two individuals stole the car of Benita's father along with his daughter while he was about to close the parking door. The car was found on August 4 in Pakdasht near Tehran, with "Benita" having lost her life. The thieves, after their arrest, stated that they abandoned the car after removing the stereo while the child was inside. The second defendant claimed that a few hours after abandoning the car, he went to the Khatoonabad police station in Pakdasht and informed the police about the incident. He also stated that on the Wednesday following the car theft, he asked one of his friends to inform the police about the matter by phone, but these reports were ignored. Although the police spokesperson denied these claims, the Tehran prosecutor confirmed that the location of the stolen car carrying "Benita," the eight-month-old girl, was reported to the police by someone over the phone, and it was "expected" that the police would have discovered the vehicle "sooner." The Shargh newspaper also reported on the backgrounds of the defendants: "Both defendants are car thieves, and one of them has a criminal record in car theft, having been arrested some time ago and released on bail after legal proceedings and the appearance of 130 complainants as per the law." Several websites also reported that this individual was released on bail. However, the spokesperson for the judiciary rejected these reports, stating that the individual had committed "12 thefts" and was released after 14 months in prison on a bail of 160 million tomans. The death of "Benita" and the issue of sexual abuse and murder of Atina Aslani, a 7-year-old girl from Parsabad Moghan in Ardabil province, received significant media coverage in Iran. Atina Aslani was murdered on June 18, and her body was found 20 days later in the parking lot of the killer's shop. The individual accused of murdering Atina Aslani was executed on Wednesday, September 20, on charges of "murder" and "sexual assault." This individual denied his previous confessions about the murder and "assault" in an interview with Tasnim news agency on Thursday, September 1, claiming that his earlier confessions were made "under pressure." Following Atina's murder, several reports related to child abuse and sexual assault against children were published in Iranian media. Meanwhile, the head of the country's social emergency services reported that some cases of child sexual abuse remain hidden, stating that out of approximately 27,000 reports of child abuse to this center last year, about two percent were related to sexual abuse. However, Iraj Harirchi, the deputy minister of health, stated that there are no statistics on sexual abuse of young girls in Iran. He also announced that 75 percent of child abuse cases in Iran are committed by family members. Following the reports about Atina Aslani's murder, some Iranian officials, including Shahindokht Molaverdi, the former vice president for women's affairs, emphasized the need for educating families and children to prevent sexual abuse. Previously, the head of the social office of the Tehran governorate announced that for the first time, a plan for "preventing sexual abuse of children" has been prepared in Tehran province, and in this plan, teachers and educators in kindergartens and preschools in Tehran province will be trained. This official from the Tehran governorate also mentioned on June 9 that the goal of this plan is to "educate a large segment of the student and child community in the province to prevent and protect against sexual abuse."