About Nazanin Fatehi
Nazanin Fatehi is 18 years old and the eldest of 5 siblings. Her eldest sister passed away at age 21. Her family is very poor and live in a semi-ruined house, where six of them live in the same room. Nazanin’s father has serious health issues that have prevented him from working in the past 7 years. He has been in and out of hospital and has undergone 4 major operations on his liver, kidney and other vital organs. His health is a serious problem for the already impoverished family.
Nazanin’s mother Maryam supports her family by cleaning homes and used to wash rugs; however due to exposure of harsh chemicals over the years, she too has developed health problems and no longer does this type of work.
The Fatehi family is Kurdish form the area of Sanandaj but they live in Karaj (a suburb of Tehran where the offence took place). Nazanin needed to stay home and take care of the household and as a result she could not attend school and has the equivalent to a grade 2 education.
Nazanin’s family could not afford a lawyer in her first trial and was given a state-appointed lawyer, they barely had enough bus money to visit their own daughter in prison.