IN THE MAGAZINE

INTERVIEW BY PEGAH FARAHMAND, ILLUSTRATIONS BY LAURA PARK Iran is the only country in the world that continues to execute children. 2008 saw six teenagers get the chair kicked from under them (that’s right, hanging is the preferred method). Just a few months ago, on October 9 (one day after Iran’s Day of the Child, as the evil gods of irony would have it), the Islamic regime in Iran executed Mohammad Reza Haddadi for a crime he allegedly committed three years ago, when he was 15. One of the most well-known cases of teenage capital punishment in Iran is that of Atefeh Rajabi, who was sentenced to death for having sex with a married man when she was 16. In 2004 Atefeh was taken to prison for the supposed indiscretion. She claimed in court that she had been raped by the 51-year-old married taxi driver, a man named Ali Darabi, who had picked her up on the street. After her protesting words in court, Judge Haji Rezai sentenced her to death. A week later he personally put the noose around her neck. Evidence was later revealed that Judge Rezai himself may have raped Atefah while she was being tortured in prison. Fear of that news coming out would have certainly given him a sense of urgency in carrying out Atefeh’s sentence. Iran is an Islamic country, deeply entrenched in the teaching of the Koran. This isn’t such a big deal when it comes to stuff like cutting bacon out of your diet. But the underbelly of corrupt religious fundamentalists who disregard the rules of international law, the ones who are hanging kids as if Allah himself were whispering in their ears, these fuckers are beginning to anger and inflame even the most conservative elements of the Iranian public. Many feel that something has got to give—and soon.

The Iranian human rights organization Stop Child Executions recently released the most comprehensive list of recommendations ever published for ending the practice of juvenile execution in Iran. Included in this document are the cases of 140 Iranian children currently facing the death penalty in the country. We talked to Mohammed Mustaaf’i and Javad Hosseini, two Iranian children’s-defense lawyers who are affiliated with the cause, about some of the cases they have worked and why Iran is still obeying barbaric laws that were enacted over 1,400 years ago.

Vice: Can you tell us your take on the Atefeh Rajabi case? I mean, a 16-year-old girl is hanged for having sex—which was likely very nonconsensual on her part—with a married man? What’s going on over there?

Javad Hosseini: It is very clear that the government lied many times over Atefeh’s sentence and that she should not have been executed. Atefeh had a very difficult childhood. Her mother died in a car accident at a very young age and her father became a drug addict. She was in the incapable hands of her very old grandparents, who left her to her own devices. Basically, Atefeh was loose on the streets. It was not a respectable way for a young girl to be living. She was taken to prison for having sex with this married man, this taxi driver. He was in his 50s and had a daughter. When Atefeh was in court she claimed that she was raped. Yet merely a week after she was first accused, the judge sentenced her to death. Her case was not given adequate time or considered fully. And in light of the allegations that the judge raped Atefeh during her incarceration, many believe that shame and fear of the truth being exposed compelled him to want her dead straight away.

Mohammed Mustaaf’i: Islamic law states that if a married man or a married woman has any sexual relations outside of marriage, the punishment that they will receive is death. This case is complicated but the laws are fairly clear.

Shouldn’t it be the man who raped Atefeh swinging from a rope?

Hosseini: He received 95 lashes. What’s worse is that they used the term “had sexual relations” when it was actually rape, and that they also lied about her age in court, stating that she was 22 when she was really just 16.

Mustaaf’i: Amnesty International has notified the Iranian government that no one under the age of 18 should be sentenced to death, but Iran doesn’t feel obliged to obey any kind of international law. Every time I represent one of these young people in court, I put this concept forward again and again, but the argument is powerless in the face of the law of Islam. This is a law that began 1,400 years ago.

From what age does it become acceptable to execute children?

In our country it is established that any girl from the age of 9 and any boy from the age of 15 is liable to be punished by death. At those ages it is deemed that they have reached puberty, so in the eyes of the law they are capable of committing crimes of a sexual nature and they can be punished accordingly. But of course this doesn’t just include sexual crimes. They can be punished for any criminal activities from those ages.

Who is in charge of policing these so-called criminals?

We have a kind of police that we call Basij. They are pastors who look after religious law. Then there are the official police, who are called the 110. Both of these organizations work under the influence of the court and the high court, but the Basij continually take the law into their own hands and use their own rules of punishment. The Basij and the 110 interfere with each other’s duties and this is something with which we, as a nation, are very frustrated.

Hosseini: 110 in Iran is like the emergency phone number 911 in the States. That is how they got their name. They are totally useless. Once our neighborhood was being robbed, and it took them over 45 minutes to get to us. When they turned up they didn’t have any handcuffs. They caught the thief and they tied his hands with some cable.

Not exactly state of the art.

There is also a lot of corruption within the 110. They will beat students and young people for nothing and they are partial to bribes. If you have a relative who is a lawyer—or if you have any kind of connection to the police—you can just use their name and the 110 are likely to leave you alone. The law can be on your side if you have connections or money—which is incredibly unlucky for 90 percent of Iranians. So yeah, the Basij are really fucked up. There is this old joke that goes: A math teacher asks a Basij in school, “What are parallel lines?” and he replies, “Parallel lines can never reach each other—unless a supreme leader says they must cross over.” In translation it might not make sense, but it perfectly captures their mind-set. In their view, even parallel lines can cross paths if a leader says so.

Yeah, not really a knee-slapper, but I get the point. It’s very depressing.

It is. I was in Germany recently, and I read a lot about the Nazi regime. I have to admit that I see many similarities. There are only 90,000 uniformed Basij here. The rest of them are what we call Lebas Shakhsi, or “Those With No Uniform.” They are usually from poor families. They function like the Gestapo or the SS. For example, during the recent student movement here, the 110 did nothing, but the Lebas Shakhsi beat everybody in sight. But because they are not officially affiliated, you cannot point a finger at them. And they permeate all levels of society. When I was having coffee with my cousins one night in Isfahan, some uniformed Basij came and grabbed one of them and threw him in the back of their van and took him to prison, where they beat him. It was because he had long hair—he was really into Metallica.

Do they just roam the streets looking for metal fans or do they have informants?

A bit of both. The Basij, along with a clergy who controls them, work below the supreme leader’s delegate in each city. Their real function is to balance any kind of protest movement—particularly among the young and within universities. If you are a young, registered Basij, you can say so on your application to university and they automatically let you in to help monitor freedom-of-speech movements, women’s movements, and so on.

I wonder what they would make of the promiscuous activities of Western college kids.

In Iranian universities, if a boy and girl are found sitting next to each other, they will come and give you a warning to not do it again.


CONTINUED
THE BUSY GALLOWS OF IRAN | 1 | 2 | >

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Comments

	MadameKitty, on Oct 4, 2009 wrote: BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU
Anonymous, on Oct 3, 2009 wrote: there should be a "no" right before the word ambitions in the post right below this one.
Anonymous, on Oct 3, 2009 wrote: my dad is from a muslim country and honestly, besides the crushing poverty, the biggest hang up they have is religion. the problem with muslim countries is that there is absolutely no diversity amongst their people. i used to believe that nature did more than nurture, but then i briefly considered what i would have been like if i had grown in tunisia. i would listen to ’house’ music, know the words to every arabic song, be mindlessly religious, dress like a guido, and probably have ambitions or aspirations (least of all anything involving creative pursuits). religion is holding back the muslim countries. so are a variety of other things, but that is a big problem. it is a problem when 99% of your population adamantly believes in the same religion.
Anonymous, on Feb 10, 2009 wrote: FUCK. RELIGION.
Anonymous, on Feb 6, 2009 wrote: Fuck the USA? You basically say the US should mind its own business but what happens when a natural disaster or some shit happens in the world? Who do they all come begging to for help? That’s right, the US.
Anonymous, on Feb 3, 2009 wrote: the basij and all they stand for are beyond what most north americans could picture.
Anonymous, on Feb 2, 2009 wrote: : ( heavy boots
	jizzmopper, on Feb 2, 2009 wrote: whatever happened to the cab driver? isn’t adultery punishable by death for men as well?
Anonymous, on Feb 1, 2009 wrote: Can anyone here spell? I hate you and all your stupid opinions.
Anonymous, on Feb 1, 2009 wrote: why do ppl keep saying ISLAM is causing this? if Islam was truly a proponent of this form of behavior, wouldn’t all Muslims act and behave in such a manner? The article mentions corruption, but how does is that necessarily derived from Islam? The article cites a section in the Qur’an where, instead of further killing someone who has committed murder in defense, the criminal must give from what he has in value (livestock, funds, etc.) (I don’t know exactly which section in the Qur’an this is in though.) Then one of the interviewees baselessly states: "For Islam to survive, a large portion of society must be kept in bad conditions, and they are then presided over by the very rich." haha did i miss some connection? Is Islam corrupt or is it people’s purposely twisted understanding of it for political and financial gain which is causing distress in only a fraction of the globe’s Islamic communities?
Anonymous, on Jan 30, 2009 wrote: cue up the lee greenwood
	sketchballer, on Jan 30, 2009 wrote: that tripped me up, "al kay-did"
Anonymous, on Jan 30, 2009 wrote: Shep, you should be Al Qaedaed soon
	halzer, on Jan 29, 2009 wrote: a perfect example of why church and state should be separate!
Anonymous, on Jan 29, 2009 wrote: From what age does it become acceptable to execute children? um, never?
	shep, on Jan 28, 2009 wrote: you must not be paying attention. we bitch about everyone, especially north korea. we are equal opportunity complainers. also, we know better how to run your country than you do. that’s our way.
Anonymous, on Jan 28, 2009 wrote: I dont believe this is a case of usa throiwing thier weight around in ina world so vastly diffrent. its not fair in my opinion or right but does that make it right? who knows but I do agree its disguesting and scary
Anonymous, on Jan 28, 2009 wrote: What’s the underliying subjet or intention here? That the US need to invade Iran soon and impose their own puppet regime? Israel kills way more arabs than them. Yes, Islam is a retarded backwards croack of shit, and I dont like them any more than you do, but it’s none of your fucking business, USA. Youre not the world’s police. You sure said nothing when you were supporting Saddam in the 80’s, and certainly didn’t speak when Israel was burning hospitals and Red Cross shelters and poor people’s huts in Gaza. Why dont you bitch about Pakistan or North Korea a little while you’re at it? Fuck the USA.
Anonymous, on Jan 28, 2009 wrote: anything this deeply rooted in religion will take a very long time to overturn. period. meanwhile a whole bunch of kids will be tortured and killed. but here in the united states, we are all infadels right? lol
	tinkerer, on Jan 28, 2009 wrote: it’s similar to a mob having teenage henchmen, but there are thousands upon thousands of them. they are being indoctrinated so young that most of them will remain loyal for the rest of their lives.
Anonymous, on Jan 28, 2009 wrote: Gharbzadegi is what the Iranians call the Western influence on their society. I don’t see it being very threatening to their society as long as the church holds its vice grip on the people.
Anonymous, on Jan 28, 2009 wrote: the basij are fucking iranian narc bastards.
Anonymous, on Jan 28, 2009 wrote: i’m shocked they let the opposite sexes go to school together.
	cynthia, on Jan 28, 2009 wrote: For Islam to survive, a large portion of society must be kept in bad conditions, and they are then presided over by the very rich. However, I remain optimistic that this way of life is doomed to fail. god, i hope so, but realistically it still looks like decades and not years before this will happen!
Anonymous, on Jan 28, 2009 wrote: and sorry, maybe that sounds like i’m all for the death penalty. i am in certain cases, but our (sorry, getting into the u.s. system) system has shown to repeatedly find people guilty that are later proven innocent by dna testing. only those that confess or are proven beyond a shadow of a doubt should be executed.
Anonymous, on Jan 28, 2009 wrote: i have mixed feeling about the death penalty personally, but i don’t believe the deterrent factor is the reason it’s viable in some cases. some people don’t deserve to continue living after what they have done, not to mention our overpopulated prison systems and tax money to sustain these mongrels lives.
	shelby, on Jan 28, 2009 wrote: religion wasn’t started as a way to control people. unfortunately, lots of time in history it has been used as a means of power and control.
Anonymous, on Jan 27, 2009 wrote: wow. ok... so if those fuckers (the powers that be) are that insane over there, imagine society with out islam. religion sucks. all forms. that shit is for crazies that want to control weaklings. not impressed, iran.
Anonymous, on Jan 25, 2009 wrote: to the guy who posted on the 23rd of jan... this has nothing to do with israel and palestine, so what the fuck ae you talking about.... i’m iranian and i can fully agree with the fact that we are ruled by a bunch of religious fundementalists who submit us into a "backward society", but ur post shows how ignorant u are to describe the iranians in the way that u have. these people don’t want to be living like this, muslim or not most islamic law is stupid and hypocritical. but they live with the fear of persecution and death if the speak up or revolt.
Anonymous, on Jan 23, 2009 wrote: But they do look so adorably underdoggy and quaint in those headscarves, it must be a cultural difference we should embrace rather than A TOTALLY BACKWARD SOCIETY ABOUT 800 YEARS OUT OF DATE that has yet to understand that division of church / state isn’t a bad idea. If I had to choose, I’m kinda more on an Israeli flex than Iranian / Pally.
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