Mahyaddin spent the final hours of 2016 in solitude, deciding whether to spare the life of a man on death row for killing his only son, Pouya. Five years ago, Pouya was knifed to death by 17-year-old Hemin Oraminejad in a brawl over petty issues in the western Iranian city of Sanandaj. The Supreme Court rejected Oraminejad's appeal earlier last year and upheld the ruling, which was death by hanging with the consent of the victim's family under the retribution law known as "qisas." Oraminejad, now 22, was repentant and had asked for forgiveness from the family of his victim.
As the execution scheduled for Jan. 1 drew near, Simin Chaichi was in a state of anxiety. The 60-year-old poet was leading a campaign to save the killer’s life by persuading the victim’s family to forgive Oraminejad, which under Iranian law meant that he would avoid the gruesome execution chamber. It was one of many such grass-roots campaigns in Iran that have sprung up in recent years to prevent executions. In 2015, at least 262 people on death row for murder were spared thanks to campaigns organized by citizens, according to the Norway-based Iran Human Rights.
