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Hanging

The show
The last few minutes of the life of a man

Z. Tehrani
September 25, 2004
iranian.com

Reading "Public hanging" by Abbas Saffari, brought back memories from the early years of the revolution. I think there are many untold stories of the revolution that will never be forgotten, and must be told.

It was about 7:30 a.m. I was driving my 7 years old daughter to school, and go to work. As we approached Fatemi Sq. (Maydaane Fatemi) in Tehran, there was a traffic jam. I tried to find a way to get out of there, but there was no way out to escape.

I  was stocked: in the middle of the Square... in one corner of the Square, I noticed a huge crowd around a big construction crane. All of a sudden, I saw a man being hanged by the crane. It was a street show.

With fear in her eyes, my daughter witnessed the last few minutes of the life of a man who was dangling and shaking in the air before he died. I felt sick in my stomach, and could not move for a while. Later, the sound of horns from cars behind me, made me move on.

After I left my daughter to school, and went to my work, I still could not stop thinking about the incident. At this time one of my co-workers entered the office, and started to complain to me about a scene he had just witnessed on his way to work.

He said, a 10-12-year-old school boy was walking to school in Kargar Blvd. A security car stooped, and a white-clothed security guard jumped out of the car, grabbed the hair of the boy, pushed him dawn to the ground on his knees, and with a big knife tried to cut his hair.

The boy was shaking and struggling to free himself. He looked like a sheep being slaughtered by a knife. My co-worker, who looked angry and sad, was wondering why a knife was used to cut the hair rather than scissors.

I did not know what to say, because my mind was still occupied by the picture of the man dangling on the crane!

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