I never thought Behnoud Shojaee would be executed, considering that in the presence of a number of popular activist artists, the family of his victim agreed to forgive him. Even in a confidential meeting, they said they would settle for “Diyya” (Blood money). Since Behnoud’s family is not financially well-off, the artists opened an account to raise money to help with the payment. After opening the account, a public announcement was made in the print media that mentioned Behnoud’s name. The family became upset at this and retracted their initial consent.
The family decided that their initial forgiveness was no longer acceptable; and our pleading didn’t go anywhere. On October 19, 2009, Behnoud went to the gallows and was executed.
Currently, several clients of mine who were under 18 when they committed their crime are awaiting execution. There is an urgent need to collect blood money for them so that we can get the money to the victim’s family for consent or forgiveness. Because the matter is extremely sensitive, I cannot release the names of my clients, but once blood money is collected and a family’s consent is obtained, they will be released.
