On February 14, 2007, Mino Hemati of Rahai Zan TV interviewed Abdolsamad Khoramshahi, counsel for Delara Darabi.  The following is the transcript of that interview.  Mino Hemati:  Mr. Khoramshahi, defense lawyer for Delara Darabi, with greetings to you, Mr. Khormashahi.  Mr. Khoramshahi, as defense lawyer for Delara Darabi, please explain the status of Delara’s case.  Abdolsamad Khoramshahi:  Yes. To begin with, let me state two issues:  One is that, as I have said in this case as well as other cases, we are not condoning acts of murder!  Murder is a crime and it is not accepted by society.  Second is that the decedent was a close relative of Delara’s father.  Delara’s father has felt that he has been a part of all of this from the beginning and has condoned this act. Since we took on Delara’s case as counsel and were confronted with certain matters in her case file, I have concluded that Delara could not have committed this act given her weak physical disposition and she could not have assisted in this crime.  In any event, we have stated our arguments and objections and the court has sentenced her to Ghesas (death), and lately her case has reached a branch of the Supreme Court, even though, still, the official decree has not been issued to me, I must present to you that, from a legal standpoint, we still have legal avenues that can be explored, and the law allows us to, once again, request a review of her case, file our objection, and highlight those issues, points, and matters that require especial attention [by the court].  I hope that, legally, we can prove the point that Delara could not have been the prime murder or have assisted in the murder.  MH:  Mr. Khoramshahi, from the information that we have, it has been written that due to substantial emotional pressure, Delara attempted suicide in prison.  What is her emotional state?   When was the last time that you saw her?  And how is her condition? AK:  Well, it’s natural.  Prison is not a proper place for individuals, especially for people like Delara, who are extremely sensitive, are artists, and are, in some way, different.  Accordingly, after the passage of 3 years, it is natural that Delara is not in a stable emotional state and feels uncomfortable.  These are natural matters and they are not unexpected.  With respect to whether Delara has attempted suicide in prison, I don’t have precise information, and from the emotional state that I know of Delara, I doubt that she would resort to such an act.  MH:  Mr. Khoramshahi, if you wanted to change Delara’s prison, have you put in a request for this?  Have they paid any attention to this request?  Have they acted on this request or have they not responded to this request from you or her father?  Apparently, her father states that he has filed such a request, but they do not even pay attention to the request that, at least for now, Delara’s location be changed.  AK:  I present to you that, based on the information that I have, apparently Delara’s family has made some efforts, they have written some letters, to at least change Delara’s location, and based on the information that I have, and the answer that I have heard and am informed about, prison regulations do not allow that, until a prisoner’s fate is fully determined, to act in any way to move or transfer her.  Accordingly, I think based on the fact that the order has been finalized, it would be possible to bring up the issue again and there is the possibility that such a request would be granted.  I think that, for [the good of] Delara’s emotional state, it would be possible to transfer her prison. MH:  Given that you have worked on this case for the past three years and are familiar with the case file, how optimistic are you that Delara will be free from prison soon? AK:  I am familiar with the details of the case file, and I have fully laid out my arguments before the court.  Given that Delara is a petite and weak girl, given that she is left-handed, given the coroner’s report, as I presented to you earlier, Delara could not have assisted in the commission of this crime.  Accordingly, I am very hopeful that during the next step of proceedings in this case, these issues would be examined more closely and the truth would be revealed.  As I presented to you earlier … we do not wish for the case to become more entangled . . . . I, along with Delara’s family, and society itself, all hope for the truth to be revealed, and the honorable members of the court do not want anything more than this.  MH:  With great gratitude to you, Mr. Khormashahi.  MH:  With repeated greetings, those were conversations with counsel for Delara Darabi, and more or less, you became familiar with this case, with the statements of Delara’s own father and her own lawyer.  From Rahai-Zan, as I had explained before, on June 28th of last year, an organization headed by Nahid Riazi went to the European Parliament in Brussels and met with members of parliament to discuss four specific cases:  Delara Darabi, Nazanin Fatehi, Kobra Rahmanpour, and Fatemeh Haghigat-Pejou.  They took these specific cases to the parliament and after meeting with members of parliament, on [July] 12, meaning less than one month, in 3 weeks, the parliament issued a response to Rahai Zan, stating that Angelika Beer, Chair of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Iran, and [an official] of European Union’s Human Rights Commission announced that they have requested more information from us about those cases and they informed us that they were looking into those specific cases.  On August 7, Mr. Elmar Brok, Chairman of the European Parliament’s Foreign Relations’s Committee, via direct contact with Rahai Zan stated that they have submitted a letter to Akbar Ahani, the Islamic Republic’s ambassador to Belgium, noting Iran’s membership in the Convention on Civil Rights and seeking amnesty for these women. They highlighted the fact that two of these women, Delara Darabi and Nazanin Fatehi, were under the age of 18 when the alleged crimes occurred and they placed great emphasis on this issue and demanded the release of these four individuals.  On January 16, Amnesty International requested amnesty in the case of 18 year old Nazanin and 19 year old Delara Darabi.  Amnesty International demanded the release of all four women, but as I mentioned, it placed special emphasis on the release of Nazanin Fatehi and Delara Darabi.   And since then, there has been a campaign to save these women, and this campaign, by Amnesty International, continues, and, as I speak to you, there is a vast signature drive underway, and we have added the links to .tv and .org websites.  I ask that you sign these petitions, and whether inside or outside Iran, I request that international entities, supporters of human rights and women’s rights, and others send in your objections by mail or fax to judicial authorities in Iran and embassies against all executions, but particularly with respect to Delara Darabi.  In the coming weeks, we will provide you with more and more news.