A NECROPOLIS FOR THE LIVING
By Nicole Sadighi*
LONDON, 18 Jan. (IPS) I recently observed a video footage that had been recorded and smuggled out of the Islamic Republic of Iran by some Iranians who had consequently endangered their lives in the process.
Whilst I began to watch this brutal account, I became increasingly disturbed and upset by the scenes. As Hojjatoleslam Ali Razini, Head of Tehran's Judiciary, announced the verdict for the four accused men on the amplifier, they were brought to centre stage like lambs to the slaughter, surrounded by a boisterous crowd of the revolutionary fanatics, who had scavenged their way to collect their weapons of rocks, drooling like blood thirsty wolves for their first kill. Following a lashing, the men were covered in white shrouds, whilst a few men with spades finished digging their death pits.
The accused were then placed in the pits and Razini throws the first stone – the Roman thumbs down --. The four men, who were buried up to their waists, could only aimlessly try and attempt to somehow avoid the avalanche of rocks, but sadly, like prey caught in a trap, they could not avoid the inevitable. Soon their white shrouds were reddened with the colour that symbolises the personality of the present Iranian Islamic regime that rules Iran.
This 10-minute long recording is one of the tapes of an actual display of public executions by stoning and is the unruly portrayal of the subjugated society of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Stoning is an age-old punishment and was once practiced in some parts of the world, but who would ever think that today, in this new millennium there are still people on the planet who are governed under such uncivilized and brutal laws?
There is the high profile case of Amina Lawal, and the other of Sufiyata Huseini from Nigeria. However, cases of stoning to death, prescribed in Islamic canons for certain offences, which particularly targets women, is not as widely publicised, as it should be.
There is an irony in this cruel punishment. Not only does stoning require burying a woman deeper than a man, it is also used against women more often than men. Even though the practice is applied to both men and women, because it is usually a punishment implemented in regards to offences like adultery, women are susceptible to be blamed and accused for social misbehaviour offences. Therefore, it is more usual that stoning will be implemented against women than against men.
In fact, since the establishment of the radical Islamic regime in 1979, Iranian women have been forced to live a life of inequality. There is less opportunity for them in the employment sectors and what opportunities they have in the workforce, their earnings are much lower now than they were during the Shah’s time.
So, this begs a question as to why the western world is not pressing for those responsible to be tried for crimes against humanity?
The Islamic Republic of Iran is a signatory of Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and they have ignored the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women. Western governments and the European Union in particular must surely give thought as to whether they can rightly carry on "business as usual" with the Islamic Republic, given the clear violations of human rights. They seem to have been too concerned with commercial gain that appears to be much greater than concern for continuing violations of human rights in Iran.
Contrary to what is frequently said, dialogue with the Islamic Republic has not improved the human rights situation – quite the reverse.
Today’s human rights abuses are the cause of tomorrow’s conflicts.
That is certainly the case in the Islamic Republic. Facing a collapsing economy and social unrests, the ruling mollahs have responded with intensified oppression. A government who collaborate with such a regime is neither ethical nor principled. They should have no business cooperating with such a regime and no business interests can justify such involvement.
To quote Professor Maurice Copithorne, the former UN Special Envoy for Iran "Breaches of human rights are in large part as common today as they were five years ago". So where is the progress towards a better system of justice in the Islamic Republic? No resolution, however diplomatically it is drafted, can deny the fact that the people of Iran live in fear.
Under the standards of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, according to which logic, can one argue that the Iranian people are not entitled to them? In the wonderful civilisation that we enjoy in the west, it is difficult to understand any civilised government can have dealings with a regime that publicly executes, gouges out eyes, amputates limbs and publicly flogs and stones its own people.
The proof is in the pudding as they say, all one has to do is watch this ten minute footage of viciousness and one can immediately witness the suffering of the victims of the Ayatollahs in Iran, who merely exist in a Necropolis for the living. ENDS NECROPOLIS OF IRAN 18103
Editor’s note: Miss Nicole Sadighi is a Market Research Analyst and freelance Journalist based in London. She contributed this comment to Iran Press Service, which made the highlights