The Bitter Story of a Woman Who Falsely Confessed to a Murder She Didn't Commit | Rescue of Iran's Oldest Female Prisoner

This case had two important points. First, removing the prosecutor's office from the criminal justice system had negative consequences. Second, judges should not rely on confessions alone; a confession has no value in itself and must be supported by other evidence and documentation.

This case had two important points, firstly, the removal of the prosecutor's office from the criminal system of criminal trials had negative consequences, and secondly, judges should not only pay attention to the confession, the confession itself is not valuable, but must strengthen the other reasons and documents for the confession.

According to Ambassador Arjan, Iran wrote: Perhaps one of the strangest cases in the history of Iran's criminal trials is related to a middle-aged woman named Fatemeh, who spent 20 years in prison for falsely confessing to the murder of a man, while her husband was the perpetrator of this murder. Of course, the process of dealing with this case had many problems for some reasons, which I will discuss. As we remember and know, in 1373, the prosecutor's office was removed from the criminal justice system of Iran. The elimination of the courts was done in 1973 based on the law on the establishment of public courts and the revolution. This was an unprofessional thing and it can be said that it inflicted a fundamental and fatal blow on Iran's judicial system and public law. Fatemeh's case also happened in the same years and actually exposed the flaws of this system. Of course, with the follow-up of the relevant experts and officials, another law came again in 2001 and the courts were revived.

Let's go back to Fatima's case and see what happened in this case? In those years - around 1372 - a man named Masoud was murdered in one of the villages south of Tehran. When the police investigation started, they found a woman named Fatemeh and arrested her. Fatemeh was a middle-aged woman who had a husband and two daughters-in-law at that time. In the initial investigation in the public court, which has now become the office of prosecution and investigation, Fatemeh admitted that I killed Massoud.

But the fact of the matter was that some of Fatemeh's neighbors and family members suspected, rightly or wrongly, that Fatemeh had secret meetings with Masoud, who was one of their acquaintances, some time ago and in the absence of her husband. When these rumors reached Fatima's husband, he accused her and Fatima denied the story, but threatened her and then said that she intends to take revenge. So one day they invited Masoud to their house and put poison in his drink. Massoud became sick after eating poison and died on the way back to his home. When the police arrested Fatemeh, her husband asked her to take responsibility for the murder and promised her that he would do everything to save her. Fatemeh also took responsibility for the murder and confessed in the same public criminal court that she killed Masoud by pouring poison into his drink. During the investigation, when they asked him what kind of poison he used, he said that it was the death of a mouse and that it was gray in color. One of Fatima's daughters-in-law was also summoned as a witness and informer, and she also confirmed her mother-in-law's statement and said, "I saw that he had bought the death of a mouse." Based on Fatimah's initial confession, without conducting a comprehensive investigation and carefully examining the cause of death, what kind of poison entered the body, and with incomplete investigations, the court ruled to punish Fatimah.

After the verdict, Fatemeh was still in prison and due to some reasons the retribution sentence was not executed and this indecision lasted for 14 years. This is one of the strange cases in the history of Iran's criminal trials, which shows both the defect caused by the elimination of the prosecutor's office and the mere issuance of a sentence based on the defendant's confession, the "corrupt consequence" of these shortcomings, that is, their incorrect and undesirable consequences, in indecision. Fatemeh stayed behind bars for fourteen years, and as her helper said, she committed suicide more than 20 times during this time, but she survived. She was even admitted to a psychiatric hospital for two years, and according to herself, she took 10-15 nerve pills a day until her husband, who saw her condition as serious, came to me after fourteen years. When the middle-aged man entered my lawyer's office, he said: "I searched a lot and was looking for an elite and skilled lawyer to save my wife. I finally found you. Please save my wife. She has been in prison for 14 years and is not doing well. I will pay you as much money as you want, I will sell my house and give you your attorney's fees, just help my wife not be executed."

After hearing this woman's story, I went to the prison to talk to her. When I listened carefully to Fatimah's words, I saw that there was a lot to say and defend. Fatemeh was in such a bad and inappropriate condition that in prison they said that she is not even able to do her personal work and other prisoners help her. He asked me to accept his case. When Fatemeh saw my hesitation, she took off the ring in her hand and said, "I will give you this, just please accept my case." In those years, I had taken many cases for free, and I just decided to accept the cases that at least I could improve my financial situation with the attorney's fees. However, I said no ring should be in front of you and I will accept your representation. Then I started legal work. Fortunately, the objection I raised on the case was accepted and the indictment was annulled. After fourteen years, the case was transferred to the same branch in one of the justice branches of Ray city. When I was studying the case, I realized that in one of the expert theories about the poison, the relevant expert stated that the poison that caused the victim's death was a vegetable poison called Kezaiton poison, which was used to repel plant pests and was yellow in color, not the death of a gray mouse. I wrote this case in the bill and gave it to the court.

On an autumn day when the weather was very nice, before we went to the court, we were sitting in the court yard with Fatemeh and two officers with her, her daughter, son, and husband, when Fatemeh said to her husband in a very sad and angry tone: "Look, I spent fourteen years because of you in a crime that I had no involvement in, 14 years of my life, youth, and life were wasted." I'm rotting in prison and I stayed away from my children, just because of you. I am innocent. If I had betrayed you, which I never did, the punishment would not have been 14 years of imprisonment and misery. I am not entitled to all this injustice."

The interesting thing was that her husband, without denying or defending himself, said: "I didn't hesitate to go and identify the best murder lawyer and get it for you to save you." Now I will do everything I can so that you are not executed."

One of the strange events in this case was the issue of Fatima's running away from her husband. One day before the court session, Fatemeh's wife had called the president of the court asking him to let Fatemeh come to you because she wants to say something important. The head of the court also ordered to summon Fatemeh, but in the middle of the way, Fatemeh's wife managed to deceive the Badragh officer with a trick that she claimed, and took advantage of a moment of his negligence and made Fatemeh run away. I, who was unaware of this incident, found out about the matter on the same day when Fatemeh called me, she said that her husband was taking her to one of the southern cities of the country. I told him why did you do this, don't do this mistake because your case is progressing well and your innocence will be proven. He said my wife did it, I didn't want to run away. I said introduce yourself immediately.

It is interesting to say that in Fatima's absence, her daughter was arrested so that her mother would be forced to return, which of course is against the principle of personal punishment. Anyway, Fatemeh came back and the court was also convened and I defended her in detail and said that her confession was not valid and legal and that she confessed to the murder under coercion and pressure from her husband. I also presented the results of the tests of the relevant experts regarding the poison and other reasons were also brought up and the trial lasted several sessions until finally I succeeded in getting Fatemeh's release after fourteen years and she was released from prison.

Fatemeh was free for about 2 years, and during this time she tried hard to return to life herself and take care of her children. One of her sons had become an addict during this time and Fatemeh was able to leave him, he wanted to fix his life and lived with great enthusiasm until the parents of Dem protested and after 2 years the indictment was revoked, so they presented the case again to the branch and with the judge's decision, Fatemeh returned to prison again. 3 years later, while 20 years had passed since the murder, the case was again referred to the branch, and this time the head of the relevant branch called me. I said let me speak because they don't have the ability to pay the dowry, and he said that we will try to provide this dowry ourselves from a local place, but in the meantime, Fatemeh's wife sold her house and paid the dowry to her parents, and they agreed, but the excessive mental pressure that Fatemeh had suffered during these years and the illnesses she had contracted made her unable to even speak easily anymore. This woman was imprisoned at the age of 42. Now he was 62 years old, he just kept saying: I didn't kill, I didn't kill, I didn't kill.

Anyway, Fatemeh was released from prison after twenty years and still holds the title of the oldest imprisoned woman. After selling the house, his wife died very suddenly about a week or two after this incident. But this case had two important points, firstly, removing the prosecutor's office from the criminal system of criminal trials had negative consequences, and secondly, judges should not only pay attention to the confession, the confession itself is not valuable, but must strengthen the confession with other reasons and documents.