Iranian Reformer Sentenced to Death

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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When I read of such things as this, I can’t stop wondering why so many people think clerically led Islamic governments supply the hope for the future.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Friday accused Iran of breaking international standards of due process by sentencing to death a reformist who questioned the right of the clergy to rule the Islamic republic.

An Iranian court sentenced Hashem Aghajari, a close ally of President Mohammad Khatami, on Wednesday. The verdict is likely to send shock waves through Iran’s reformist movement, many of whom have defended his right to free speech.

State Department spokesman Frederick Jones said: "The trial and the extraordinarily harsh sentence against Iranian reformist Hashem Aghajari, merely for exercising his right of free expression, represents a breach of accepted international standards of due process.

“We are gravely concerned about this case, which indicates a deteriorating human rights situation in Iran,” he added.

Jones said the number of public executions, stonings, punitive amputations and acts of persecution against reformers and the press had increased in Iran in recent months.

“The United States stands with the people of Iran in their quest for greater freedom, prosperity, judicial due process and the rule of law,” he added.

President Bush has said Iran is part of an “axis of evil” but his administration appears to be undecided between confrontation and a strategy of encouraging reformers.
http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=worldnews&StoryID=1705496

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i can't explain this

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Re: Iranian Reformer Sentenced to Death

[QUOTE]
Originally posted by myvoice: *
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Friday accused Iran of breaking **international standards of due process* by sentencing to death a reformist who questioned the right of the clergy to rule the Islamic republic.
[/QUOTE]

Coming from US, this is indeed amusing. Considering what US itself is doing all over the world, may I suggest they keep their mouths shut on "due process" and other such niceties.

US has essentially created a precedence that each country is free to interpret its own laws and "execute" any person they feel is a danger to their "way of life", without any "due process".

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Funny how all bash-the-US threads (half or more of all WA threads) start with bashing the US and end with bashing the US. All posts that defend the US by pointing out the hypocrisy of those accusers because of their similar indescretions -- get deleted.

Yet threads such as this one -- which is supposed to discuss the persecution of Iranian reformers -- turn into bash-the-US threads. Why the double standards?

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The news story quotes spokesman of State Department of the United States.

Had it been a new story without US State Deptt then it would have been discussed on its own merit.

Since the topic starter decided to push it from US State Department's view, that makes the US' own position on capital punishment with or without "due process" a fair target for discussion.

It is similar to quoting Saddam saying "it is such a shame that US plans to use deadly gasses against my Iraqi people". The whole argument can be deemed rediculous depending on the source you use to push it.

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Well, let’s get it back on track.

This is an interesting perspective of the human rights abuses brought about by the “Revolution” of 1979. It shows what why religious extremism is so dangerous. It is quite long, I only pasted the first few paragraphs.

http://www.marzeporgohar.org/articles/anahita.php

**The Turmoil of a Country: Human Rights Violations in Iran,
by Anahita Zardosht **

Even as a twenty-year old junior in college, I can still vividly recall the state of oppression in Iran, where I lived until the age of eight. I always felt uncomfortable wearing the hijab, or covering, and I remember my curiosity as to why women had to cover themselves. Little did I know at that age that the forced covering is the tip of the iceberg of human rights violations that the Islamic Republic of Iran is committing against not only women, but also minorities and political activists.

Iran, a traditionally Islamic country in the Middle East, went through a substantial change of power in February of 1979. It was then that the Islamic fundamentalists established a theocracy, with Ayatolla Khomeini as their leader (Nashat 195). At first, the people welcomed the change in power and believed that a change to an officially Islamic society would improve their standard of living (Nashat 195-197). Khomeini promised the people of Iran a country that would return to the purity of the time prior to the Shah’s regime. Little did they know that the new form of government would be the epitome of discrimination and dehumanization. When Khomeini took power in 1979, he made Islam the official religion of the country and applied all Shiite Muslim laws to the people’s daily lives (“Islam and Women’s . . .” 34). In the process, however, in the name of religion, he wanted to return women to their traditional roles as mother and wife, and as the inferior of the sexes. Furthermore, he turned the religious minorities in the country into second-class citizens, if they were recognized by the state at all. He also wanted to crush any resistance to his power, particularly from political activists, in any manner possible.

In an effort to moderate human rights and to assure the rights of the citizen of the world, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948. These thirty articles are the bare minimum of the rights entitled to every member of the human race. Unfortunately, and sadly enough, the Islamic Republic of Iran is violating twenty-nine of these thirty articles…