A former Miss Canada is attempting to bring international attention to the plight of an 18-year-old woman sentenced to death in Iran.

Nazanin Afshin-Jam, a B.C. resident who won the Miss Canada pageant in 2003, has never met the Iranian woman whose life she is trying to save.

"This is not just a case of an Iranian woman. This is a case of humanity," Afshin-Jam told CTV Vancouver.

In early January, an Iranian court sentenced the 18-year-old, who is also named Nazanin, to death by hanging because she confessed to stabbing and killing a man who she said was trying to rape her and her niece.

Nazanin, who was 17 at the time of the incident, was with her 16-year-old niece when she said three men pushed them to the ground and tried to rape them.

She testified to taking a knife and stabbing one of the men in the hand. When the men continued to attack the girls as they tried to escape, she said, she stabbed one of the men in the chest. She said that she was defending herself and her niece and had no intention of killing the man.

"She's not a criminal -- she's the victim," Afshin-Jam said.

The former Miss Canada and aspiring singer is not along in her efforts.

Negar Azmudeh, a Vancouver-based immigration lawyer, has also taken up the girl's cause, alleging that this case demonstrates the unjust treatment of women in Iran.

Azmudeh told CTV Vancouver had Nazanin been killed by a man, he would likely not receive a death sentence: "Because the value of his life would be twice as much as Nazanin's."

Amnesty International is also lobbying for Nazanin's release.

In the past, Iran has bowed to international pressure. In 1997, a woman who was sentenced to death by hanging for shooting a police officer who allegedly tried to rape her was later released.

However, there are also cases where young women have suffered the death penalty.

In 2004, a 16-year-old was hung for committing "acts incompatible with chastity."

"I think cases like this are illustrative of the fact there is a serious, serious human rights crisis in Iran; the death penalty, discrimination against women and a whole host of other concerns," said Alex Neve, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada, told CTV Vancouver.

"It really is time for the international community to put those issues right at the top of the agenda."

Afshin-Jam has started an on-line petition and hopes that people around the world will also take up Nazanin's cause.

"If enough people get involved in this and we all gather together and take action then she can be free."

With a report by CTV Vancouver's Jina You