Execution of a teenage girl

[leejo]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/5217424.stm

Horrible.

[tau_neutrino]

What a f***** up culture...

Sad :\

[leejo]

I've read a little about the hangings going on in Iran. From what I gather, they like to lift the condemned with a crane, as opposed to dropping them from a gallows. This way they strangle slowly and do not die immediately with a broken neck.

Again, horrible. This is the dominant culture of a nation, not the antics of an extremist few.

[Zephyr]

Originally Posted by leejo

Again, horrible. This is the dominant culture of a nation, not the antics of an extremist few.

Actually it looks more like a dominant extremist few leading the antics of a nation's culture...just because they're in power doesn't mean the people all agree with it.
-Zephyr

[PanzerHans]

Originally Posted by Zephyr

Actually it looks more like a dominant extremist few leading the antics of a nation's culture...just because they're in power doesn't mean the people all agree with it.
-Zephyr

I agree. Never jugde a culture by it's leader. US has death penalty, executed by forms like electrocution(which is also nasty to watch - just an example). This has been done to mentally retarded..... Still most people don't judge the US culture by that....

[Switchcraft]

You shouldn't confuse culture with nationality. This may not be representative of Iranians, but it is certainly representative of those who follow Sharia.

And yeah, that's a sick culture.

[Wulfyn]

Very few countries practice the 'long drop' as it is known, the process by which the neck is broken by the sharp jolt as opposed to strangulation. It was only introduced to Britain in 1875 or so (and that was only thought to have happened as open air public executions were banned, and now the prison officers had to watch the execution in a small cell which I imagine was rather unpleasant. At least one long drop was known to have caused decapitation.

But that said it was not long ago in Britain that children would be hung for minor offences, such as stealing.

But there is a counter point to not using it. Under Sharia law a victim's family has the power to pardon a murderer even after an execution has begun, as happened to Ramin Tshaharleng.

[CingularDuality]

I'm not totally familier with the details of this case, but I just wanted to chime in here to say that I don't really have a particular problem with what happened to this girl. If the article that is obviously biased against the actions is unable to give the impression that the girl is NOT a troublemaking street urchin, then I'm sure the reality is at least a bit worse.

Looking at the bigger picture:
The problem, of course, is with using some "god" to decide what is just. Religious beliefs are NOT where our sense of right and wrong come from. Ignorant conservatives will often spout off about the "judeo christian" roots of our legal system. They ignore the fact that there are non-judeo christian cultures that have the same basic interests in justice. The same morals. Do you not think that if the religious right ever came to be in power like religion is in the middle east, that they would not start enforcing their own law? We've already seen it happen at abortion clinics: christians enforcing their own brand of justice on other people.

No, muslim law doesn't scare me. Religious "justice" does, regardless of the faith involved...

[Switchcraft]

Originally Posted by CingularDuality

No, muslim law doesn't scare me. Religious "justice" does, regardless of the faith involved...

Muslims aren't religious?

[CingularDuality]

Originally Posted by Switchcraft

Muslims aren't religious?

Yes, but I'm saying that it doesn't bother me because it's Muslim, it bothers me because it's religious. And this particular case doesn't do anything to enhance my concern...

[Wulfyn]

Well the details can be summarised pretty easily:

Girl gets kicked onto streets at a young age and as an urchin is generally shunned.
Despite having many complaints against her (as a bad example to other schoolgirls) she is generally not persecuted.
Girl is raped.
At a court case she loses her temper at how unfairly she is being treated, shouts at the judge and admits she was raped.
Judge summons her to execution for adultery (although she was not married).
Man who raped her gets 100 lashes.
Judge looks at her and says she is 22 (even though her birth and death certificate ages her as 16).
Girl is executed.


Yep, that's pretty much it. The real problem here is that the Iranian religeous judges answer to no-one (but God, and that's kinda unprovable).

[CingularDuality]

Originally Posted by Wulfyn

Well the details can be summarised pretty easily:

Girl gets kicked onto streets at a young age and as an urchin is generally shunned.
Despite having many complaints against her (as a bad example to other schoolgirls) she is generally not persecuted.
Girl is raped.
At a court case she loses her temper at how unfairly she is being treated, shouts at the judge and admits she was raped.
Judge summons her to execution for adultery (although she was not married).
Man who raped her gets 100 lashes.
Judge looks at her and says she is 22 (even though her birth and death certificate ages her as 16).
Girl is executed.


Yep, that's pretty much it. The real problem here is that the Iranian religeous judges answer to no-one (but God, and that's kinda unprovable).

You left out the fact that she was a prostitute.

[thebleakaffinity]

Boy, I'm sure glad we don't execute people in this country.

[Switchcraft]

Well, I'm glad we haven't let Cing hang all the prostitutes.

[CingularDuality]

I would do no such thing!