The other day I was talking to an old friend about the horrendous plight of some of the Islamist “reformists” now languishing in prisons all over Iran who are being tortured psychologically and physically which includes rape.
She a lifelong liberal activist surprised me not only by her lack of interest in the subject, but more so with her dismissive “they deserve it” response. Sadly, in my experience, she is not alone in thinking this way.
I know it is hard to be sympathetic to those who not long ago and many to this very moment consider you as their mortal enemy. But I also know the moment one forgets the basic human rights of his/her enemy, it is the moment one has become the enemy.
There are now many Iranian Islamists who for one reason or another, mostly internal power struggle, are being abused by their former brethrens. To be nonchalant about their plight or worse yet, celebrate their misery is exactly what got Iran and Iranian into this mess in the first place. This destructive cycle needs to be broken.
