Oct. 26
VIETNAM:
Last Minute Appeal in Disputed Death Penalty Case in Vietnam
A group of lawyers have petitioned President Truong Tan Sang for the reprieve
of a death row inmate, who was acquitted twice on appeal, but is now scheduled
to die on Sunday.
The lawyers said that Le Van Manh appeared to have been a scapegoat in a case
in which the proper legal procedures were not followed.
The People's Court in Thanh Hoa province has given the go ahead for the death
sentence, following Manh's conviction on charges of murder, child rape and
robbery.
His original convictions were overturned twice on appeal. However, the death
sentence imposed at Manh's 3rd trial was upheld.
Manh's mother says that he was tortured into making a confession for the crimes
and that he has an alibi that proves he could not have been present at the time
of the crime.
He was accused of raping and strangling to death a 15-year-old girl by the
banks of a river near his home town.
In their letter, the lawyers said the only evidence produced against Manh was
his confession. At his trial he had denied involvement in the murder.
They said that courts could not convict on the strength of such a confession
alone and that doing so was a violation of clause 2, article 72, of the
criminal code.
Manh's mother has made an emotional appeal on Youtube for his reprieve.
She said that he was arrested without a warrant or summons and was subjected to
torture in prison.
She said he was beaten into unconsciousness and suspended by a rope during the
interrogation sessions and had no option but to confess.
The lawyers said that they had tried to submit an appeal at the Supreme
People's Court but had received no response from officials there.
(source: newamericanmedia.org)
SAUDI ARABIA:
Saudi Arabia court confirms death penalty for Shia cleric al-Nimr
The Saudi Arabia's Supreme Court has confirmed the death sentence against Shia
cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a leader of anti-government protests.
"After the confirmation of Sheikh Nimr's death sentence by the Court of Appeal
and then the Supreme Court, his life is in the hands of King Salman who can
endorse the sentence or suspend the execution," said one of his brothers,
Mohammed al-Nimr.
He warned his brother's execution "could provoke reactions that we do not
want," as Sheikh Nimr had "supporters in the Shia areas of the Islamic world".
Mohammed al-Nimr said he expected the king to "prove his wisdom" by halting the
execution of his brother and six other Shias, the Aljazeera reported.
Among those sentenced to death, "3, including my son Ali, were minors at the
time of arrest" for involvement in anti-government protests that erupted in the
Eastern Province in the wake of the Arab Spring, he said.
The case of Ali al-Nimr, in particular, has aroused strong reactions around the
world, with many asking the Saudi authorities to grant the young Shia a stay
the execution.
Iran, the arch-foe of Saudi Arabia, on Sunday warned Riyadh not to execute the
cleric.
"The execution of Sheikh Nimr would have dire consequences for Saudi Arabia,"
said Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian.
"The situation in Saudi Arabia is not good and provocative and tribal attitudes
against its own citizens are not in the government's interests," he said in a
statement.
Sheikh Nimr had called in 2009 for separating the Eastern Province's
Shia-populated Qatif and Al-Ihsaa governorates from Saudi Arabia and uniting
them with Shia-majority Bahrain.
Last year a special court in Riyadh sentenced him to death for "sedition",
"disobedience" and "bearing arms".
Saudi Arabia's estimated 2 million Shias, who frequently complain of
marginalisation, live mostly in the east, where the vast majority of the OPEC
kingpin's huge oil reserves lie.
(source: Daily Pakistan)
*****************
Iran censures Saudi court for upholding death sentence against al-Nimr
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has condemned a decree
by the Saudi Supreme Court approving the death sentence against prominent Shia
cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.
The diplomat said the confirmation of the verdict by the Saudi court is
worrying, Mehr reported on Sunday.
The Supreme Court earlier the day approved the death penalty for al-Nimr, his
brother says.
Mohammad al-Nimr, the cleric's brother, said in a message on social media on
Sunday that the Saudi Supreme Court and an appellate court had approved the
execution of the Shia cleric and authorized the Saudi Interior Ministry to
carry out the sentence.
(source: Tehran Times)
PAKISTAN:
Murder convict to be hanged in Dera Ghazi Khan
A convicted murderer will be hanged to death on Tuesday at the Central Jail in
Dera Ghazi Khan.
According to prison sources, Abdul Majeed son of Ghulam Hussain, resident of
Chah Gulwala tehsil Taunsa, had killed his brother Ali Ahmed and nephew Abdul
Aziz on November 22, 2002 over property dispute.
A case under section 302 was registered at Ratera Police station.
The Additional Sessions Judge Ishtiaq Ahmed awarded death penalty to the
culprit on April 29, 2003.
Mercy appeals of the outlaw were rejected at all relevant forums.
The death penalty would be executed on October 27 under the supervision of
Prison Superintendent Afzal Javed and Dr Ayub.
Nearly 250 persons who were convicted to death by various courts across the
country have been executed since the ban on the implementation of death penalty
was lifted in July last year.
Initially, only terror convicts were hanged to death as per the permission but
later the implementation on all death sentences awarded to people for
committing murder like crimes began.
(source: dnd.com.pk)
AUSTRALIA:
Submission on Australia's Advocacy for the Abolition of the Death Penalty To
the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade
This submission proposes steps the Australian government should take to promote
abolition of the death penalty worldwide. Australia has led or cosponsored
important resolutions at the United Nations Human Rights Council on abolition
of the death penalty. Australia has also raised death penalty issues through
the Universal Periodic Review process for relevant countries. Continued
pressure through various UN mechanisms is helpful and necessary.
Australia's efforts would be more effective if senior Australian officials and
politicians spoke out publicly as well as privately against capital punishment
in their dealings with other governments. Such public statements have been
quite rare, except where those facing execution are Australian citizens. In
addition to "quiet" diplomacy, the government needs a principled, consistent,
and more vocal opposition to the death penalty, whether or not the lives at
stake are Australian.
China reportedly continues to execute people in alarming numbers. Indonesia,
India, and Pakistan all recently resumed executions, so it seems the death
penalty is making a resurgence in Australia's neighborhood.
Human Rights Watch, which opposes the death penalty in all circumstances, urges
Australia to be a leader in a global effort to reject the death penalty,
especially across the Asia-Pacific region. Australia could assist in educating
the region's populations on how the death penalty has failed to deter crime and
been unjustly applied, and help gradually build pressure against the practice.
These are universal values, not Australian values. The UN General Assembly has
passed resolutions year after year calling on countries to suspend use of the
death penalty with a view toward its abolition. UN Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon has said, "The death penalty has no place in the 21st century."
Australia should partner with the UN as well as abolitionist countries in the
region including Cambodia, New Zealand, Philippines, and Timor Leste, targeting
countries that continue to execute people - for instance, China, India,
Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Vietnam - as well as countries such as Papua
New Guinea and Brunei that have had moratoriums in place, but which are taking
steps to reintroduce the death penalty. Australia should also not shy away from
raising these issues with countries that frequently carry out executions,
notably the United States, Iran, and Saudi Arabia.
For Australia's voice to carry more weight against judicial executions, it is
important that Australia publicly registers its opposition to death sentences
wherever and whenever possible. People across Asia also need to be mobilized.
Reaching out to and building support among Asians and Pacific Islanders could
help to end this cruel and inhumane punishment once and for all.
In expanding its policy on the death penalty abroad, the government should
consider the British government's strategy, which entails a comprehensive
public agenda for it to push for its abolition.[1] The strategy paper includes
clear benchmarks and goals to guide British embassies in advocating against the
death penalty in countries in which executions continue. In addition to public
and private pressure on individual cases, the strategy also includes support
for civil society groups to raise awareness, and for lawyers to bring legal
challenges. Britain credits successes in Barbados, Uganda, and Kenya, which
have each taken steps to reduce the use of executions, as examples of its
impact.
Below is a list of recommendations for consideration.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) should:
1. Issue a public strategy document on the death penalty with clear and
specific goals per country retaining the death penalty, and advise Australian
diplomats and embassy staff on making death penalty issues a priority. DFAT
should report publicly on progress in an annual report on countries retaining
the death penalty. The US government issues annual human rights country
reports, yet due to its own continued use of capital punishment, its reporting
on its use is inadequate. Such a public report would be a valuable contribution
to the worldwide movement against the death penalty.
2. Publicly as well as privately urge governments that retain the death penalty
to work toward a full ban. Direct ambassadors to find opportunities to advocate
regularly and publicly against the death penalty so that Australia's position
is well-known rather than waiting until Australian lives are at stake.
3. Work with the UN and like-minded countries to issue statements of concern
where executions are handed down or carried out.
4. Work toward absolute abolition, but in countries where that is an
unrealistic short-term goal, try to reduce use of the death penalty through
other means, including by calling for a reduction of crimes punishable by death
- namely the most serious and violent crimes.
For instance, in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Pakistan, many
non-violent crimes are punishable by death. In Iran, "insulting the Prophet,"
apostasy, same-sex relations, adultery, and drug-related offenses can carry the
death penalty. Pakistan's penal code makes the death penalty mandatory for
blasphemy, and 17 people convicted of blasphemy are currently on death row.
Consensual same-sex relations may be punishable by death in Iran, Nigeria,
Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.[2] In Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia,
Sudan, and Yemen, and in parts of Nigeria and Somalia, the death penalty may be
applied in cases of consensual homosexual conduct.
According to Saudi Interior Ministry statements, Saudi Arabia executed 135
persons between January and September 2015, and 58 of those executed were
convicted for non-violent drug crimes.
Both Vietnam and China have recently reduced the number of crimes punishable by
death, though in both cases some crimes remain that are non-violent. India's
Law Commission recommended the government keep the death penalty only for
terrorism-related crimes. The Malaysian government is reviewing the mandatory
imposition of its death penalty for drug offenses. Moving away from mandatory
application of the death penalty for drug offences is an area where Australia
could help build some momentum.
5. Press countries, such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, China, and Vietnam, to remove
the death penalty from national security crimes like "terrorism" that are
ill-defined or that could include peaceful acts of criticism against the state.
Egypt's legal definition of "terrorism" is so broadly worded as to encompass
civil disobedience. In Iran, people have been sentenced to death on account of
alleged ties to armed opposition groups. According to a study by Justice
Project Pakistan, of the 6,872 prisoners on death row in Pakistan in 2012 (now
over 8,000), 818 were tried on terrorism-related charges. Pakistan's definition
of terrorism is so vague that many crimes can fall under this definition.
6. Give priority to advocacy in countries where there are concerns about fair
trials and due process, especially in countries that use torture to extract
confessions. Australia should monitor such trials and speak out publicly
against abuses of due process, such as in China, Egypt, India, Iran, and
Vietnam. In China, death penalty sentences have been handed down to alleged
"terrorists" blamed for violent attacks. But there is gross disregard of the
most basic aspects of a fair trial, including access to counsel and freedom
from ill-treatment in detention, highlighted by China's checkered record of
torture in police interrogation.[3]
In Egypt, mass trials have resulted in death penalties handed down to hundreds
of suspects for politically motivated reasons and based almost entirely on the
unsubstantiated testimony of security officials.
In Pakistan, the anti-terrorism courts that have sentenced people to death on
terrorism charges raise serious due process concerns by holding trials in
absentia or often using statements obtained through torture as evidence.
Bangladesh continues to use the death penalty, including in war crimes
tribunals for those charged with serious crimes during the war for
independence, in proceedings that fall far short of international fair trial
standards.
7. Give priority to countries where children can be sentenced to death. In
Egypt, Iran, Maldives, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, and Yemen,
child offenders remain on death row.[4]
8. Advocate against civilians being tried in military courts empowered to hand
down the death penalty, as in Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan, and the United
States.
9. React immediately and forcefully when countries move to lift official or
unofficial death penalty moratoriums. For instance, Pakistan lifted a
moratorium on executions on December 17, 2014, following an attack on a public
school in Peshawar, and many executions rapidly followed.
10. Urge governments to publicize statistics regarding use of the death
penalty. At present, in countries such as China and Vietnam, such information
is secret. Without such information, it is impossible to evaluate claims of
progress regarding reductions in use of the death penalty.
11. Work with governments in Asia-Pacific countries whose citizens are on death
row abroad, such as Indonesia, and help these countries to advocate for the
lives of their citizens, especially where they lack representation.
12. Where Australia is providing development assistance for criminal justice
reform, benchmark that assistance against developments in reducing application
of capital punishment and ensure that assistance is geared toward enhancing
defense and due process rather than simply aiding prosecutions.
13. Support independent studies on the effectiveness of the death penalty in
the Asia-Pacific region as a deterrent to crime, and examine arbitrary and
discriminatory applications of the death penalty.
14. Enhance local efforts to end or reduce the death penalty by supporting
civil society initiatives, lawyers groups, and others working to end the death
penalty.
15. Support legal groups representing individuals on death row and working to
bring legal and constitutional challenges against the death penalty.
16. Advocate on behalf of journalists, lawyers, and activists harassed,
sanctioned, or imprisoned for raising death penalty cases. In some countries,
such as China, activists may be punished for raising death penalty concerns.
17. Provide support, including the sharing of best practices, to help prisoners
on death row get adequate mental health care.
18. Include death penalty issues in briefings on human rights for trade
delegations and other groups traveling abroad for official visits.
19. Promote the repeal of the death penalty abroad at the applicable state or
provincial level as well as with the national government. This includes raising
concerns with visiting officials, such as from US states that retain the death
penalty.
20. Consider measures to ensure no Australian products are used in
administering the death penalty abroad. For instance, Australia could adopt the
European Union approach by restricting exports of drugs for use in lethal
injections.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Foreign & Commonwealth Office, "Chapter V: Criminal Justice and the Rule of
Law," in Human Rights and Democracy Report 2014, March 12, 2015,
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/human-rights-and-democracy-report-2014/human-rights-and-democracy-report-2014#chapter-v-criminal-justice-and-the-rule-of-law
(accessed October 1, 2015).
[2] "Iran: Discrimination and Violence Against Sexual Minorities," Human Rights
Watch news release, December 15, 2010,
https://www.hrw.org/news/2010/12/15/iran-discrimination-and-violence-against-sexual-minorities.
[3] "UN Human Rights Council: Egypt's Human Rights Situation; Repression in
China; and Arrests in Bahrain," Human Rights Watch statement, September 17,
2014,
https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/09/17/un-human-rights-council-egypts-human-rights-situation-repression-china-and-arrests.
[4] Michael Garcia Bochenek, "Executions Down, But Not For Juvenile Offenders,"
Human Rights Watch dispatch, April 1, 2015,
http://www.hrw.org/news/2015/04/01/dispatches-executions-down-not-juvenile-offenders.
(source: Human Rights Watch)
THAILAND:
Evidence doubt in Britons murder trial
Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Tun are accused of the murder of 24-year-old David Miller
and the rape and murder of Hannah Witheridge, 23, on southern Koh Tao island in
September 2014.
Both men have pleaded not guilty and face the death penalty if convicted over a
case which tarnished Thailand's reputation as a tourist paradise and has seen
the police accused of bungling the investigation.
A verdict is expected on Christmas Eve.
Prosecutors insist their case against the men is watertight and includes DNA
found on Witheridge's body and around the crime scene.
But the defence has raised doubts over the forensic evidence, bringing in an
expert witness who said the murder weapon - a garden hoe - did not carry the
DNA of the accused.
The defence delivered their closing statement on Monday, the culmination of a
21-day trial stretched out over more than 3 months that has heard harrowing
details of the gruesome murders.
The forensic testimony against the accused is "unreliable and... inadmissible,"
the statement released to the media said, adding "the prosecution's case is
marked by an absence of significant evidence" to prove guilt.
Questioning the integrity of the murder probe, the defence said the 2 migrant
workers were "questioned without lawyers" and made to sign documents that they
did not understand.
Confessions made soon after their arrest were later retracted as they were
given under duress, it added.
Lead defence lawyer Nakhon Chompuchat said his clients hoped "common sense"
would prevail and see them acquitted.
The battered bodies of the British holidaymakers were found on the sleepy
diving island of Koh Tao on September 15, 2014.
Police say Miller was struck by a single blow and left to drown in shallow surf
while Witheridge had been raped and then beaten to death with a garden hoe.
Family members of both victims have attended parts of the trial, often breaking
down during the more harrowing moments.
It is not clear whether they will be present for the verdict on December 24.
Christmas is not a public holiday in Thailand.
(source: Iolmobile news)
IRAN:
4 juveniles sentenced to death
A report obtained from Sanandaj Prison, in the provincial capital of Iranian
Kurdistan, western Iran, shows that 4 prisoners who were detained while under
the age of 18 have been sentenced to death.
According to this report, the prisoners are:
Youssef Mohammadi, 20. Arrested at age: 14
Himan Ourami-nejad, 18. Arrested at age: 17
Amanj Hosseini. Arrested at age: 17
Siavosh Mahmoudi, 20. Arrested at age: 17. He has said he committed a murder in
self-defense against rape.
2 weeks ago the Iranian regime hanged Fatemeh Salbehi, 23, and Samad Zahabi,
who were both 17 at the time of their alleged crime.
The UN Special Rapporteur on summary executions, Cristof Heyns, described these
2 executions as "unlawful killings committed by the State, the equivalent of
murders performed by individuals."
In his report to the United Nations General Assembly on September 25, UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that "there were reportedly 160 juveniles at
risk of execution and at least 13 juvenile offenders were reportedly executed
in 2014" in Iran.
Implementation of these sentences by the Iranian regime violates Iran's
commitments in the framework the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which prohibit the death
penalty for anyone under the age of 18.
********************
Call to save lives of 4 prisoners who were juvenile offenders
The Iranian regime as the foremost executioner of children in the world
sentenced to death 4 young prisoners in Sanandaj Prison who were juveniles at
the time of their crimes. The Iranian Resistance calls on all international
human rights agencies, especially the UN Secretary-General, the High
Commissioner for Human Rights, and pertinent UN Rapporteurs, as well as the
European Union and the U.S. government, to take immediate action to obstruct
these cruel executions that contravene many international laws and covenants.
Yousef Mohammadi, 20, and Heeman Orami-nejad, 18, were both 14 years old when
they committed their crimes and are now sentenced to death. Siavosh Mahmoudi
and Amanej Hosseini (Oveissi) who were arrested when 17 are also at the risk of
being hanged. Another young prisoner by the name of Kiomars Nasseiri, also a
prisoner in Sanandaj Prison who was arrested when a juvenile, is threatened to
be sentenced to death.
Amnesty International said the executions of 2 prisoners (Fatemeh Salbehi and
Samad Zahabi) who were under 18 years of age at the time of committing the
crimes "make a mockery of juvenile justice." AI added, "The use of the death
penalty is cruel, and inhumane and degrading in any circumstances, but it is
utterly sickening when meted out as a punishment for a crime committed by a
person who was under 18 years of age."
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also expressed "deep sadness" on October 19,
2015, at the execution of 2 juvenile prisoners by the Iranian regime. The UNSG
statement note, "Over 700 executions are reported to have taken place so far
this year," calling it "the highest total recorded in the past 12 years". He
called on the Iranian regime to establish a moratorium on executions with a
view to abolishing the death penalty.
However, the Iranian regime that continuously ratchets up the catastrophic
dimensions of suppression to create a climate of terror that especially targets
the youth is unable to halt or even ease the waves of suppression, in
particular the executions, in order to confront increasing protests and popular
loath. In reaction to worldwide condemnation of egregious and systematic
violation of human rights in Iran, head of regime's judiciary Sadeq Larijani
announced: "We shall never retreat from the Sharia Law. The issue of Islamic
values relates to the quality of governing of the countries and others have no
right to intervene." This is despite the fact that the Iranian regime has
endorsed international covenants such as the Convention on the Rights of the
Child that bar execution of juveniles.
(source for both: NCR-Iran)
****************
Remembering Reyhaneh Jabbari
On the anniversary of Reyhaneh Jabbari's execution by the Iranian government,
it's important to remember her through her own words.
"With a hanging rope in front of my eyes, that I am not afraid of, I write to
tell the tale that I lived, leaving nothing unspoken." - Reyhaneh Jabbari
Today is a cold anniversary marred by the reminder of an unjust death. On this
day one year ago, Reyhaneh Jabbari was executed by hanging in Iran. She was
only 26 years old at the time of her death. Despite the fact she was taken from
this earth, she left us many important things before her departure. She willed
us words that are eternally poetic, whether she intended them that way or not,
whether she knew they would reach us or not.
The death of Reyhaneh Jabbari is more than just an unfortunate event. She is
more than the horror that led up to her untimely demise. She was a young woman
full of things we needed to hear and it's a shame that the world was only
allowed to read about her in the terrible outcome of her "trial" and the
international disgust thereafter. It's important for us all to realize that her
execution, the injustice around it and the chauvinism hurled at her are not
just Iranian problems.
Reyhaneh was convicted of killing a man she said attempted to rape her. She was
arrested in 2007 after being accused of the murder of Morteza Abdolali
Sarbandi, a former Iranian intelligence ministry worker. She wrote from prison
about how she was forced to confess to premeditated murder:
Once they took me somewhere for interrogation where I saw a 14 or 15 year old
girl hanging from the ceiling from her wrists. The girl was pale, her lips were
cracked. She was whimpering.
[In another room,] the interrogator sat across from me and said that today or
tomorrow they would go get my little sister ... He referred to her by name:
Badook. "It is her turn," he said. "She is frail, thin ... How long do you
think she will last hanging like that one?" He began telling me in detail what
he was going to do in front of me to my little sister ... I started crying and
begged him not to do such a thing. He said he had no alternative. I asked him
what I could do to stop him from hurting my sister. He said: "It is very
simple. Just confess that you bought the knife before the murder." ... So I
wrote that I had bought the knife beforehand, signed the paper and breathed a
sigh of relief.
She would spend years in prison awaiting her execution. I imbibed whatever
words I could find from her after reading about her story and came to see her
extremely moving heart in the expressions rendered from the captivity of
imprisonment. The late Jabbari was a woman who like many other women became
prey for the deviant intentions of men.
In Mexico, a case with some parallels took place with Yakiri Rubi Rubio.
According to Yakiri, on December 9, 2013, she was abducted by two brothers who
took her back to a hotel at knifepoint where they sexually abused her. She was
ultimately able to use the weapon against her assailants and escape. Although
she was not executed for defending herself, it was 18 months later after she'd
spent time in prison that courts would concede she was defending herself.
Iran's regional rival, Saudi Arabia, sentenced a woman to 6 months in prison
and 200 lashes for her gang rape around the same time Reyhaneh was arrested.
Her punishment increased when she spoke to the media about what happened to
her. She would ultimately be pardoned though she too faced prison time for her
rape.
The state and its executioners often back up and reinforce the men who
victimize rather than the women who have been victimized.
Women's punishment and death for rape and sexual abuse are not new phenomena.
Europe and the United States both have rich histories in this regard. From the
kidnapping and rape of enslaved African and Native women to the witch trials
that took place throughout, criminalizing women at any expense was normalized
as foundational early on in the formation of the nation-states we recognize
today.
An early example lies in the case of a 19-year-old enslaved woman named Celia.
After years of being raped by her "owner," Robert Newsom, she eventually became
unwilling to take any more of his abuse. One night after Newsom informed Celia
he would be paying her a visit she clubbed him to death upon arrival to her
cabin. She faced trial over his murder and was hung at the gallows, like
Reyhaneh, for killing the man who regularly violated her. Death makes permanent
the solution then and now for many women who dare to challenge the desire of
their male attackers.
The state and its executioners often back up and reinforce the men who
victimize rather than the women who have been victimized. Reyhaneh's case is
one more example of the futility of the death penalty.
I can never hope to completely understand the struggle or the women who have
been taken away by the endless vortex of sexist accusation and punishment. For
centuries, dating back to the most ancient of times, this spectacle has been
repeated. Another young star was destroyed before she could actualize her hopes
and her dreams. Reyhaneh told us as much when she wrote:
Anytime I think of my hopes and dreams, I start to cry. When I fall asleep
thinking of the hopes I had for my future, I dream of myself on my wedding day
wearing a white dress. Then slowly the dress turns from white to black, my eye
makeup looks like I have been crying, my face is covered with black tulle and I
see myself holding a bouquet of dried up dead flowers. I have never told a soul
about this until now. No one knows how I was forced to give up the love of my
life. I had to. When I was nineteen I had no idea that my life would go up in
smoke in that house and that a few years later, the courts would decide to make
me into ashes.
These institutions that snatched Reyhaneh are grossly repetitive: misogyny,
execution and government. The way they worked in harmony to stifle her voice is
an evil harmony in a sad song that plays on repeat the world over. Be it where
I live in the United States or in Iran, each of these systems has the complete
and full capability of committing more trauma on top of what already preexists.
There is no reconciliation in the needles that inject poison, the ropes that
squeeze necks or any of the methods governments use to kill those they have
deemed unfit to live.
The irony lies in the fact that the ones who choose to take life see themselves
as holy and in situations like Reyhaneh's, governments spite their adversaries
by condemning them for killing women and men like her. Meanwhile, they all do
the same to their own citizens. Reyhaneh was not a tool for jingoists to label
Iran as primitive. She was a person who had her own life, her own desires and
her own words. She was special and unique in the softness of her existence.
The reality that permanently stripped her of her physical consciousness was
like a bullet piercing a cloud. Despite the fact she is gone and I'll never see
her face, or read new words from her, she is still here. She will come and
reform again and again like water that evaporates and falls from the sky and
separates to go off distances. She is living because she chose to live through
her final experience and surpass the boundaries of physical death.
In her final words to her mother, she said:
My kind mother, dear Sholeh, the one more dear to me than my life, I don't want
to rot under the soil. I don't want my eye or my young heart to turn into dust
... Beg so that it is arranged that as soon as I am hanged my heart, kidney,
eye, bones and anything that can be transplanted be taken away from my body and
given to someone who needs them as a gift. I don't want the recipient to know
my name, buy me a bouquet, or even pray for me. I am telling you from the
bottom of my heart that I don't want to have a grave for you to come and mourn
there and suffer. I don't want you to wear black clothing for me. Do your best
to forget my difficult days. Give me to the wind to take away.
Reyhaneh has certainly given us her heart and spilled its beauty for us to
carry it with us wherever we should go. In her words, she gave us bones to make
us strong and kidneys to cleanse us of the toxins of this world. And lastly she
gave us eyes to see if we will only look through them.
(source: Op-Ed, William C. Anderson; truth-out.org)
INDONESIA:
Indonesian police arrest former Indian teacher wanted in murders of 20 women
Police on the Indonesian resort island of Bali say they've arrested a former
Indian primary school teacher who is facing the death penalty in his homeland
for the murders of 20 young women.
Mohan Kumar is accused of murdering the women using cyanide from 2003 to 2009.
A court in the southern Indian city of Mangalore sentenced him to death in
December 2013.
Denpasar Police chief detective Reinhard Habonaran Nainggolan says Kumar was
arrested Sunday after arriving at Bali's airport from Sydney, based on a red
notice from Interpol.
Nainggolan said police were questioning Kumar on Monday and coordinating with
Indian diplomats.
Media in India have reported that Kumar, known as Cyanide Mohan, is a serial
killer who preyed on women looking for marriage.
(source: Associated Press)
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