Malak Ghorbany

Who is Malak Ghorbany?

Shamemeh Malak Ghorbany is an Iranian woman, from the suburbs of the town of Naqdeh who was sentenced to death by stoning for allegedly having committed adultery. She is the mother of two children, a girl named Someyeh and a son, Ahmad.

Malak's brothers and husband had murdered a man they found in her house, accused her of having an affair with him, and she too was nearly killed when they stabbed her. The men were convicted of deserved or ‘legitimate’ murder and received a sentence of six years’ imprisonment. In a letter to the court submitted by her lawyer during her first trial, Ghorbany is quoted as saying, “Since I am a rural, illiterate woman and I didn’t know the law, I thought that if I confessed to a relationship with the dead man, I could clear my brothers and husband of intentional murder. I said these untrue words in court and then understood I had done myself an injury.”

On June 28, 2006, a court in the northwestern Iranian city of Urmia sentenced Malak Ghorbany to death by stoning for committing adultery. Under Iran's Penal Code, adultery committed by a married person carries the death penalty.