Delara Darabi, the young woman who had allegedly committed a murder under the age of 18 and who had received an unfair trial had to be hung in violation of international laws to which Iran has been a signatory. With all the international attention on her case, Delara had to be hung, just as all the other new negative rhetoric from Iranian officials have had to be heightened since the Obama olive branch was extended in late March.
Islamic Republic of Iran is scared shitless of the prospects of negotiations with US and ending Iran’s self-imposed isolation of the past 30 years. Crackdowns on ordinary citizens, students, bloggers, union activists, and teachers have also increased over the past few months to send the message worldwide that IRI is not prepared to talk peace with anyone, for its very existence has thrived and lasted on this isolation. IRI’s isolation from the rest of the world has given it a free pass to mistreat its citizens inside Iran and to violate their human rights on a daily basis without any accountability to the rest of the world. Ending the isolation would seriously jeopardize the very existence of an ideological state which has made 70 million Iranians’ daily lives and thoughts its business to scrutinize, monitor, and control.
In addition to the ideological propaganda sent Iranian people’s way 24/7 from radio, television, school, textbook, and podium, entire organizations have been established and nurtured to talk hate and fear about the rest of the world to Iranian people. IRI’s rejoining the world would require dismantling tens of huge, multi-thousand employee organizations such as the paramilitary Basij and the Islamic Propaganda Organization, and a concentrated cultural re-engineering of what has been in progress over the past three decades. It is simply not possible to do any of that reform in a short period of time, something that arguably could have been in place had Khatami’s earlier attempts at reforms not been thwarted by conservative hardliners such as Ali Khamenei himself.
Islamic Republic of Iran has passed any chances of reform and change in order to remain isolated to guarantee its very survival. Delara’s execution is just another message to the world that IRI is incapable of change and reform and it will never re-join the international realm of peaceful co-existence with other countries.
Most unfortunately, with all the international attention Delara Darabi’s case received, her execution was the shortest, fastest, and most effective way for Islamic Republic of Iran to let the rest of the world know it has no intention of negotiating anything with anyone.
My heart weeps for the youth and talent which had to be sacrificed to send the ominous message to the world.
