Delara Darabi (Persian: دلارا دارابى) (29 September 1986 – 1 May 2009) was an Iranian Gilaki woman who was sentenced to death after having been convicted of murdering her father's female cousin in 2003.

Although Delara initially claimed that she had committed the crime, she subsequently recanted and explained that her older boyfriend, Amir Hossein, had persuaded her to lie about the incident to protect him.

[1] According to Delara and other sources familiar with the case, Amir Hossein was the person who had committed the murder in an attempt to steal from a wealthy member of the Darabi family.

Darabi's lawyer, Abdolsamad Khoramshahi, had appealed against the sentence, arguing that her conviction had been based solely on her confession and that her trial had failed to consider vital evidence.

The petition appealed to Iranian authorities, particularly the country's head of judiciary, to observe international treaties and standards and to commute Delara's sentence.

[citation needed] According to the penal code of the Islamic Republic of Iran, children are considered criminally responsible for their actions as adults at the age of puberty.

[20] Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International say Iran executes the most juvenile offenders of any country, in breach of the UN Convention, which forbids the death penalty for crimes committed under the age of 18.

[21] Delara Darabi was executed at 5:00 AM local time on 1 May 2009 at Rasht Central Prison, without prior notification to her attorney and family.

"Lack of strong and sustainable reactions from the world community is one of the main reasons why Iranian authorities continue execution of minors.

Iranian authorities have learned that their violations of the human rights lead just to some verbal protests from the world community, without any practical consequences.