From an article that I just read:
Two gay Iranian teenagers -- one 18, the other believed to be 16 or 17, were executed this week for the "crime" of homosexuality, the Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) reported on July 19. (The ISNA report is in Farsi, and was translated into English by the British gay rights group OutRage!, which released its report today--ISNA also provided the terrifying photos of the teens' last moments you see on this page. The two youths -- identified only by their initials as M.A. and A.M., were hanged on July 19 in Edalat (Justice) Square in the city of Mashhad in north-eastern Iran, on the orders of Court No. 19. The hanging of the teens was also reported by the National Council of Resistance of Iran.
And the website Iran Focus not only confirms the story but provides more details, reporting that "Members of Iran’s parliament from the north-eastern city of Mashad, where a minor and an 18-year-old man were publicly hanged yesterday, vented their anger on Wednesday on foreign and domestic news outlets for reporting the ages of hanged prisoners...Ultra-conservative deputy Ali Asgari said that the two deserved to be hanged in public, adding, 'Whatever sentence is decreed by an Islamic penal system must be approved, unless proven otherwise.' Asgari complained of foreign and domestic reporting that the two were mere boys. 'Instead of paying tribute to the action of the judiciary, the media are mentioning the age of the hanged criminals and creating a commotion that harms the interests of the state,' the member of the Majlis Legal Affairs Committee said. 'Even if certain websites made a reference to their age, journalists should not pursue this. These individuals were corrupt. Their sentence was carried out with the approval of the judiciary and it served them right.' "
What a sad day in human history...
10 comments:
They were just kids!!!
Damn f*ck@rs, they all are!
I'm sorry.
But it's almost unbelievable...and definitely appalling. This particular news just set back the progress of liberty, tolerance and awareness hundreds of years back. Hiding this kind of malignity under the cloak of a penal system is disgusting.
Thanks for posting it.
Sigh.
This is my problem, though: this is their culture. This is their beliefs.
I find stagnant cultures a sad thing where they hold on to their culture and beliefs so tightly despite all the new things that people are finding out about the world.
But like I said, what can we do? Force them to accept our new ways of thinking? That would just be as wrong, wouldn't it?
Sad aspect of life, my friends... some people choose to walk with the blinders still on.
That's actually what I was thinking. You can't just force your beliefs to them. It's their social status quo, but am just really sad at what had happened. I pity the two kids. The picture where they were both crying broke my heart (you can click the pic to enlarge it).
Grabe. Aren't we glad that we're leaving on the other side of the world? I pray for their souls.
(still shaking my head...24 hrs after)...
True, true. We're lucky.
What can we do?
Well...it's been done already, eh.
Although it's true that we cannot force our set of beliefs on a culture molded thousands of years, people can still be made aware. Notice Iran's parliament's reaction with the mention of the ages of these "criminals"? That kind of reportage (providing the age and other details, etc) is nothing new...but still they reacted, because of the very fact that their system and set of beliefs are being questioned not by Muslims alone, but on a global scale.
But of course, praying that everything happens immediately is crazy.Just as these cultures were created in thousands of years, its collapse will take just as long.
i know i'm romanticizing, but wouldn't it be the greatest thing in the world? to fight for love, against all odds. and to die with the one you know have fought with you until the end?
hmmm... that's the hopeless romantic in you talking... but then again... I too think that I'd do anything for the one I love... till death do us part...
btw... how's been hanging? Haven't heard from you in a while.
The Law is the law... Justice served...No To Homo
i'm fine. i'm still trying to discover the ways of downelink.
i haven't tried to email you because i think i'm still waiting for your reply...
To Nizoral: Haha... we're both waiting.Would love to hear from you again. Been checking you're poetry blog... religiously I think. Haha. Your words... they blow my mind. And if poetry is considered as the food of the brain, I'll be damned. You're random words ... I'm guilty of gluttony =)
now that is compliment. grabe, may nagbabasa pala nun. he he. haven't updated it kase kala ko walang change na nagagawa kung kanino. anyway, thanks for inspiring me. sige post ako ulit. at comment ka ha? =)
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