Below is the appalling character asassination of an Iranian woman, Sharzad Gholikhan, by a Miami news paper; Sharzad (a mother of 2) was arrested because her husband bought binoculars (that are legal to own but not to ship); and very few of the people expressing concern for the purported hikers convicted in Iran say anything about the treatment of this woman (or other Iranians mistreated by legal systems outside of Iran). That’s shocking to me.
These are all quotes from a Miami Newspaper below — I want you to imagine if the hikers were described in this way.
QUOTES FROM THE MIAMI PAPER – APPALLING JOURNALISM & CHARACTER ASSASSINATION:
“She dressed stylishly, in Western clothes, with makeup and jewelry.”
“her shady ex-husband’s international plot, an unwitting victim of both Muslim traditions “
“She was a slick operative”
“Gholikhan wanted to meet for an interview, but jailers at the Federal Detention Center in Miami forbade it.”
“Sexual urges are accommodated by “temporary marriage”.
” If a stranger man would ever see only one hair of yours,” her grandmother would say, “you are going to be hanged in Hell forever and ever with only that one hair, because you sinned!”
” When she disembarked, five officers fingerprinted her and seized her passport and thousands of dollars in jewelry. “
And at trial, the prosecutor described Sharzad, 26 at the time of her trial, as intelligent, resourceful, cunning, manipulative, deceitful, and independent.” How the hell would he know? The transaction for the binoculars took place in Austria. Imagine if Iran’s courts had given statements about the *hikers* in this fashion – a lot of people would have criticized the courts in Iran, but people where are you on the issue of Sharzad? Your kids in the diaspora may face similar treatment in the future.
HERE’S THE AGENT’S TESTIMONY AS TO WHAT HAPPENED TO EVIDENCE OF HER GUILT:
“At the time, I believed it was recorded. Did I check to see that the equipment was functioning? That someone pressed record? I requested assistance from the Austrians to provide the evidence. I couldn’t demand it. I could only ask for it.” Later, Kriske (the investigator) contradicted himself, saying he didn’t record the meeting because it would have been illegal under Austrian law.
Sharzad was denied the right to have her family visit her, even though she has 2 young children; she was also convicted twice (once in Austria she served 1 month in prison and now she is in a U.S. prison on the same offense).
Sharzad Gholikhan said she felt “the prejudice of the American nation.”
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL SILENT ON THE ISSUE:
And to those who say that Amnesty International and other rights groups did not have the resources to call attention to her I simply ask what resources did Amnesty require to post a 1 minute entry on their website about an Iranian-woman (and mother of 2) imprisoned on the basis that husband tried to buy some night-time binoculars ? Don’t you think Amnesty could have diverted $2 of the budget they allocated to the world-wide media blitz they devoted to the *hikers* ?
WHY THE CASE OF THE HIKERS DOES NOT BOTHER ME AS MUCH:
My view is that under any government and under any judicial system, there appears to have been enough evidence to detain, charge, and convict the so-called *hikers* — I can very easily see how a Judge in another jurisdiction could reach a conclusion that they were guilty. That doesn’t mean I agree with every case tried before the courts of Iran.
I ASK MYSELF QUESTIONS ABOUT THE CIRCUMSTANTIAL FACTS OF THE CASE:
* Who in their right mind, would ever take a chance to go into hostile territory for a hike?
* From among that population of *hikers* in California, what are the chances that 2 people, at least one of the Jewish faith, would want to go in the precise location where sectarian military violence is taking place between several competing Muslim factions?
* (Note: Think about how bizarre it would be for an American to get caught hiking on the German border during World War 2 or vice versa.)
* Add that the countries that the *hikers* originate from are actively funding and promoting terror groups on the same border (U.S. & Israeli politicians routinely and publicly support MEK and PJAK).
* Add that the countries the *hikers* are linked to (the U.S. and Israel) are beating the war drums against Iran, threatening to bomb Iran to the stone age almost on a daily basis while they both maintain a military presence near that border.
* Add that the country the *hikers* originate from just invaded 2 of the neighboring countries (Iraq and Afghanistan).
* Add that one of the alleged co-participants (Sara Shourd) jumped bail and that fleeing is often admitted as evidence of consciousness of guilt in criminal trials (I provided a link for that).
* Add that the U.S. has a history of sending operatives into Iran to manipulate the political landscape (Have you forgotten about Mosadegh? … I promise the Judge didn’t.)
If you don’t see how authorities can form a reasonable suspicion to arrest and charge the *hikers*, you’re only kidding yourself. By automatically making it a *human rights* violation you’re also cheapening genuine human rights violations; and endangering others.
A judge may very well have found — based on the CIRCUMSTANTIAL evidence — that these 2 were involved in some form of intelligence gathering, meeting a contact at the border, delivering cash to operatives already in iran, or a number of acts that most other governments would object to under these same circumstances. In espionage cases, you never learn all of the details (or even in regular criminal cases).
The hikers were convicted after a trial and represented by a lawyer. Now you might not be happy with the trial that they got; however, they had lawyers and received some form of legal process (the Iranian woman represented herself). I raise this point also because the U.S. diminished its own moral authority to complain about trial standards when it started rounding up ‘middle eastern’ looking men, sending them to Guantanamo Bay Cuba WITHOUT TRIAL & WITHOUT A LAWYER for and INDEFINITE amount of time — Not to mention that some of those ‘detainees’ were not even captured on the U.S. border (but in their home countries) and many were tortured: Have you forgotten the pictures of people standing naked holding electrical wires or having to rub human excrement on themselves? Have you forgotten the detainees that died while being interrogated?)
The *hikers* were properly arrested and the Judge used his common sense in reaching a verdict – that’s what I believe happened. The reality is that a similar process takes place in U.S. courts every day (and even U.S. courts sometimes incorrectly convict a person).
