They killed Behnoud Shojai (Shojaee) ... 22 years old ... he had killed someone in a group fight (in self defense) when he was 17 ... (The victim had attacked Behnoud with knife; and Behnood had defended himself with a broken bottle) his lawyer was pleading with the world to save him ... human rights activists, including mothers of Sohrab A'rabi and Neda Agha-Soltan were amongst those gathering in front of the Evin prison to get a stay on the execution order ... his lawyer had pleaded that e due judiciary process was not respected ... they killed him ... they killed a 22 years old boy, who had killed someone in a street fight ... they killed him to say:
Post Script:
The real tragedy is in this:
"مادر و پدر مقتول چهارپایه ای را که برای اعدام در نظر گرفته بودند از زیر پای بهنود کشیدند و بهنود از دنیا رفت.»"
"The parents of the victim who was killed by Behnood pulled the bench from under his feet, and ended his life."
The tragedy is the ignorance of "revenge". These parents could have immortalized their dead son by "forgiving"; yet they chose to be killers themselves. I wonder how they sleep tonight. Will their son come back to them? Will they feel relieved that someone else's mother is mourning? Do they think they are increasing safety and security by carrying an act of revenge? This is gross; this is disgusting. Ehsan's victimized twice. Once by his killer and another time by the killers of his killer, his own parents. I am trying to imagine the street fight when Behnoud Killed Ehsan. If Ehsan was the son of such vengeful parents, it is likely that he was the bully. Maybe he even started the fight. Behnoud killed in self-defense. This was not a premeditated murder; this was an unintentional killing. (Like the killing of ZahrA KAzemi; the Canadian photographer who was killed by a "hard object hitting her head, while being interrogated in the IRI's prisons.) How can such vengeful parents have raised a peaceful, peace-loving teenager? Maybe if Ehsan, their son--who engaged in fights with a knife-- was alive, he would have joined Ahmadinejad's thugs who killed and beat people out of ignorance, class-revenge, or financial need. I know my imagination is running loose ... I know I am judgmental ... but WHAT KIND OF PARENTS avenge their son by killing someone else's son?! Don't they say their "Allah" is Merciful?! And what kind of a Judiciairy system allows a teenager involved in second-degree murder die on the whim of victim's parents--who are perhaps too psychologically devastated to be fair.
I cannot calm down ... (and now parvati told me that Behnoud's been begging the parents of Ehsan to forgive and spare his life ... I cannot calm down ...)
- they do not respect people's wish to abolish death penalty
- they killed him to say they are not afraid of controversy and international pressure (why would they when Obama writes them love letters?)
- they have sentenced activists to death now ... soon, we shall witness political prisoner's executions ...
Time to act!
Mohsen Makhmalbaf has passed on his Nuremberg HR award to Karoubi. I wish The Nobel Peace Committee had recognized the gravity of the human rights violation, the brutality in China and Iran; I wish they had given the award to raise awareness on this .. I wish Obama had taken a less subtle approach in his acceptance speech ...
They killed a 17 years old boy, because this is when Behnoud was imprisoned, but they killed him after torturing him by swinging him back and forth between his prison cell and the gallows ... he is free from the injustice of Iran's brutal justice system ... but what about others ... apparently, he spent his last seconds BEGGING the victims parents--who had the option of pardoning him; who were there to pull the bench from under his feet ...
Post Script:
The real tragedy is in this:
"مادر و پدر مقتول چهارپایه ای را که برای اعدام در نظر گرفته بودند از زیر پای بهنود کشیدند و بهنود از دنیا رفت.»"
"The parents of the victim who was killed by Behnood pulled the bench from under his feet, and ended his life."
The tragedy is the ignorance of "revenge". These parents could have immortalized their dead son by "forgiving"; yet they chose to be killers themselves. I wonder how they sleep tonight. Will their son come back to them? Will they feel relieved that someone else's mother is mourning? Do they think they are increasing safety and security by carrying an act of revenge? This is gross; this is disgusting. Ehsan's victimized twice. Once by his killer and another time by the killers of his killer, his own parents. I am trying to imagine the street fight when Behnoud Killed Ehsan. If Ehsan was the son of such vengeful parents, it is likely that he was the bully. Maybe he even started the fight. Behnoud killed in self-defense. This was not a premeditated murder; this was an unintentional killing. (Like the killing of ZahrA KAzemi; the Canadian photographer who was killed by a "hard object hitting her head, while being interrogated in the IRI's prisons.) How can such vengeful parents have raised a peaceful, peace-loving teenager? Maybe if Ehsan, their son--who engaged in fights with a knife-- was alive, he would have joined Ahmadinejad's thugs who killed and beat people out of ignorance, class-revenge, or financial need. I know my imagination is running loose ... I know I am judgmental ... but WHAT KIND OF PARENTS avenge their son by killing someone else's son?! Don't they say their "Allah" is Merciful?! And what kind of a Judiciairy system allows a teenager involved in second-degree murder die on the whim of victim's parents--who are perhaps too psychologically devastated to be fair.
I cannot calm down ... (and now parvati told me that Behnoud's been begging the parents of Ehsan to forgive and spare his life ... I cannot calm down ...)
Post Post script:
and yet I come across this story: The family of Mansoor Kahyayee, who was killed at the age of 18 by a 15 year old boy. His father recounts how the society was pressuring them to seek revenge and have the killer executed; but the mother changes her heart and forgives ...
If the parents of a victim give consent, the killer's life will be spared. This is the area where many of Iranian celebrities are trying to make a difference: seeking consent of the parents. Nevertheless, there are many who are killed in Iran because of sexual indiscretion (even if voluntary) or political opposition to the regime. These individuals are harder to save--ironically because there is no Quranic loophole as there is in the case of murder victims' consent ...
These pictures are posted by Ahmad Batebi's blog. Proof that the family of Ehsan Nasrollahi had pardoned Behnoud in presence of witnesses.
Update: the head of the judiciary had tried to intervene and prevent this execution. The woman (mother of the victim) INSISTED on killing ... because he "ego" was hurt that the victim's family did not kiss up her ass enough ...
12 comments:
The death penalty should be abolished world-wide! It proves nothing, doesn't help the victims of murder, just begets more.
I followed the news minute by minute all night on twitter with prayers and anguish - I'm sickened and devastated. The final sequence of events was absolutely horrific - the execution was slightly postponed - I think to await the arrival of the victim's family, it seemed at first they'd agreed to a pardon then... here's a link to a compilation of some of the tweets reporting it that were relayed to us: http://bit.ly/x2jq4
Naj, as one of the twitter-posters rightly pointed out, it's the state - he called it the "religious dictatorship infrastructure" that sets up the situation in which the victim's family is made to "decide" - the psychological bind is that they are made (culturally/by the situation) to feel that if they pardon the child whom they are told was responsible for killed their child (but who can say what really happened, with torture a routine process?) they are "betraying their own flesh and blood"! So the state kills, casting the blame on a distraught family. And given the way it's set up, the victim's family bears a burden WHATEVER they decide!
Parvati;
This is not "system", this is RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL RETARDEDNESS that has brought that system to power.
We cannot relent ... education from bottom up is the only way to fix the system.
Parvati, urelated, but I heard that Fascist-looking patrols are back on Italian streets ... is that true?
Yes! Not in a big way and only in some places, mostly far-north - the most disquieting are those organized by a far-right neofascist splinter-party headed by a guy called Gaetano Saya, who has a very sinister record
A bad time for Italy :-(
Parvati,
I think it is very important that we consider world in a connected way--these right-wing lunatics are wining the public support in some of the most liberal places on the earth. We cannot look at this trend in Iran in isolation from what is happening elsewhere. I feel I need a 360-degrees fly vision ... let's detect the similarities.
It's all interconnected just as we're all interconnected - holding hands and joining forces as best we can in a desperate attempt to ward off a whole wave of barbarisms barbarisms barbarisms rising on every side, barbarisms that feed on each other, play off against each other and find excuses in each other. As your great poet Shamlou said ..."these are strange times, dearest... ". And Iran's right at the heart of the storm now, as it has some of the absolute-best - the noblest and most profoundly thoughtful people anywhere, people like Karroubi, Hajjarian, Soroush, Khatami - I remember when he first visited Italy, like a door opening ! - and some of the absolute-worst thugs brutes sanctimonious murderous schemers and vile hypocrites anywhere... with the latter wielding the power.
Strangely enough, when Italy was at-its-absolute-worst in the 1970s-early 1980s - with terrorism both real and false-flag run riot, coup-plots mafias deviant-spooks secret societies and every imaginable kind of rottenness and craziness all intertwining and spreading wherever you looked - we also had some exceptionally courageous and noble-spirited political leaders, journalists, judges, policemen .. who paid a heavy toll of blood. The "best of Italy" today is a young writer-journalist called Roberto Saviano: he now lives in hiding under mafia death-threats, can't ever go for a walk, go to a soccer match... has to live like a prisoner in police-barracks, can't even lean out a window to enjoy a breath of fresh air! And needless to say, the various Italian mafias - with their turnover of billions - have close networks of political complicity: some of Berlusconi's closest associates have been sentenced for mafia ties, his own fortune is of ... kinda-suspicious origin. Only surviving virtue in this tired, resigned and cynical country I can see at present is that we haven't (yet) re-adopted either torture or the death penalty and our police/spooks/fascists haven't (yet) re-adopted their old habit of firing rounds of live ammunition at demonstrators.
Anyway - that's my best "irrational analysis"..! Gradually and painstakingly, we'll have to work out a more rational one all together.
This is so sad. I feel so sad for his parents. They will get their judgement in the next life; that is of course if they believe in their own holy book.
Dear Naj,
I share your and Parvati's deep and utter horror and dismay in the face of this judicial murder - judicial murder, if one is informed on the background as worked out by you in detail and in addition by Parvati ! -
I don't know if I can agree with any wider generalizations and conclusions.
But I think that is not important: the brilliant thought one of your readers, Demeure, formulated referring to your blog "The more knowledge your readers gain from you the more they'll realize that they are not much different" holds definitely true.
@ Parvati, three sentences should be added in honour of your compatriot Roberto Saviano : he is not only a incredibly investigative journalist and writer - and as courageous as people in Iran, on top of that, being that young;
his style, it should and must be added, is unique; this fascinating pace, speed and tempo of his chains of words and cascades of sentences, adapted and precisely calibrated to the situation,
i.e. a slower movement, if it demands reflection,
and a stylistic atmosphere verbally tremendously rapid, if the action races along.
Never so far have I read a book with that accomplished mastery of style [- and that at his age! -] neither by a German nor by an English author
- a fascinating style of writing, mirroring the pace and tempo of his narrative (contents). Incredible! Never having found anyone emphasizin his quality and excellency of style so far , I felt compelled and forced to say/write so!
German
Post Scriptum:
“THE IMAGE OF A MOTHER PULLING THE BENCH FROM UNDER A 21 YEAR OLD BOY, TO AVENGE” (source: naj’s blog)
1) Entry “Violence”, subheading “Law” in wikipedia
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violence
“Violent acts that are not carried out by the military or police and that are not in self-defence are usually classified as crimes.”
2) Entry “Monopoly on violence” in wikipedia
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly_on_violence
“The monopoly on violence is the definition of the state expounded by Max Weber […] Max Weber said in ‘Politics as a Vocation’ that a necessary condition for an entity to be a state is that it retains such a monopoly. His definition was that something is »a 'state' if and insofar as its administrative staff successfully upholds a claim on the monopoly of the legitimate use of violence in the enforcement of its order.« […] Supporters of the state monopoly argue that if a monopoly on the use of violence does not exist, private individuals or groups will inevitably arm themselves and use violence against each other and others; thus, they claim that anarchy results in more violence than could be found in even the most violent state. […] The philosopher Thomas Hobbes strongly supported a centralized practitioner of force, as he believed that that is the only way an orderly society could be maintained.”
Yay! so pleased to read that, I totally agree.
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