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A Culture of Death
26-Oct-2009
“Innocence is to be presumed, and no one is to be held guilty of a charge unless his or her guilt has been established by a competent court.” -- Article 37, chapter III of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Thirty-one years ago, a few months after the 1979 Revolution, the generals and close associates of the Shah, including his long time PM Amir Abbas Hoveyda, were shot to death without trial. The crowds cheered. When the father of the Rezai brothers, was asked to fire the shots, he refused. He was not a killer even though three of his own sons, members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq, had been killed under the Shah.
One of those generals was Hassan Pakravan who had long been retired at the time of his execution. Pakravan had spared Khomeini's life in the 1960's when he went to the Shah and asked for a special decree to reduce Khomeini’s sentence. (He and Khomeini used to meet for lunch each week). Pakravan was not allowed access to a lawyer and the charges against him were vague. Around the same time, Faroukh- Rou Parsa, the Shah’s Minister of Education, became the first woman executed for “spreading corruption among the youth.” PM Mehdi Bazargan, dismayed and deeply troubled about the killings, went to see Khomeini to ask him for clemency for the 85-year-old General Matbouei. In response, Khomeini said, “this class must be eradicated.” And so he was executed too.
One day, many years ago, I entered my father’s room. Bed-ridden, he could hardly move, but alert of mind, he would still read and follow the news in Iran. I saw him crying. I asked “why are you crying baba”? He told me, “because I just read about the execution of the Shah’s officials.” I said, “but weren’t they guilty? Were you not in prison six times during that period only because you belonged to the National Front?” He said, “still, they should have had a fair trial, with attorneys present, and be given prison terms.” I sighed. My father was right.
Once it began, the carnage never stopped. The mass executions at Evin have been well documented. The new regime eliminated those they disagreed with. In Kurdistan, summary executions took place; young men--future Pasdaran--shot to death many Kurdish revolutionaries. The new judges, endowed with aba and turban rather than knowledge and judicial education, took over the judiciary and started handing down execution orders. Khalkhali, nicknamed the ‘hanging judge,’ was one of the first ones. He was the judge, the jury and the executioner. When asked, -what if they were innocent? –he responded by saying, if they were innocent, they will go to heaven!
Few people objected to the execution of the Shah’s associates. A few expressed their dismay about the killing of Fedayeen and Mujahedeen. Many more voiced their horror at the mass executions in Evin. Those who did convey their rage were either ignored or imprisoned.
But the culture of death continued and was encouraged in our society.
In October 1986, Grand Ayatollah Montazeri, after receiving various reports from inside the prisons, wrote to Khomeini, “Do you know the crimes that are taking place in the jails of the Islamic Republic did not even take place during the Shah's regime? Many people have died due to torture.” Khomeini dismissed the issue.
The dadgostari (Ministry of Justice) became the bee-dadgostari (Ministry of Injustice). Mohsen Kadivar, an enlightened cleric, said it all too well; the dadgostari of the Shah’s time was much more humane than all the courts of the Islamic Regime. In these courts, the innocent and the guilty are all mixed and the sentences are carried out swiftly. No time wasted. No stay of execution in almost all cases even if the Constitution of the Islamic Republic states otherwise.
“No one may be arrested except by the order and in accordance with the procedure laid down by law. In case of arrest, charges with the reasons for accusation must, without delay, be communicated and explained to the accused in writing, and a provisional dossier must be forwarded to the competent judicial authorities within a maximum of twenty-four hours so that the preliminaries to the trial can be completed as swiftly as possible.” (Article 32, Chapter III, the Rights of the People).
Whereas Article 38 states the following, “all forms of torture for the purpose of extracting confession or acquiring information are forbidden,” from the early days of the Revolution up until now, hundreds of prisoners have undergone physical and psychological torture, often with lethal results. The 2009 elections have brought yet more torture leading to death.
The IRI brought a culture of death to Iran and legitimized it. In many ways, Iran and a majority of Iranians came to accept it. Whether guilty or innocent, death, as punishment, became the norm rather than the exception.
In the Islamic Republic, in recent times, the death sentence for political prisoners has come to be used as a scare tactic, designed to prevent others from engaging in any “subversive” activities. Often, especially in the case of political prisoners, the sentence is eventually commuted to time in prison. The Islamic regime intimidates through fear.
How do you determine that a person has engaged in activities against Iran’s national security? It is a broad allegation, leveled against each and every opponent of the regime, including journalists, political activists, and writers. It is easy and convenient. The regime in Iran does not need any justification to kill. The law of qesas,(which in Arabic means reprisal and punishment in kind) a discriminatory penal code ratified under Rafsanjani and the regime of the Velayat-e- Faqih, allows for death by execution under varied circumstances. According to Mehrangiz Kar, the Iranian human rights lawyer, “under another provision of the law [qesas], if a man kills a person and proves in court that the victim was worthy of death by religious decree’, then he walks out of the courtroom a free man.”
The recent execution of a youngster, Behnoud Shojayee, who was 17 upon his arrest and 21 when he was executed, brought rage and condemnation. However, there were those who were not too bothered with the idea of executing a “criminal.”
In fact, on Facebook, there was a discussion that one should not turn him into a martyr, for he was no angel. The circumstances behind his sentence were more than suspicious. No one knows what really happened because the truth is always hard to come by in Iran. The coroner reported that the victim’s wounds did not correspond to the blows he received in the first place. The parents of the victim were all too eager to let go of the chair that would hang Behnoud. What happened to Behnoud has happened to hundreds in Iran, and it is likely to happen again. Whether engaged in a criminal act or not, none of these souls should not have been given the death penalty, especially if they were under-aged. Article 156 of the Constitution even stipulates that suitable measures should be taken to reform criminals. This has rarely taken place. In many parts of the US, people who commit atrocious crimes are given the death sentence but usually it takes years of investigation and appeal before the sentence is carried out. According to Amnesty International, in 2007, China (470), Iran, (377) and the US (42) had the highest number of executions in the world. Iran has retained its second place until today. (Even Afghanistan has abolished capital punishment).
I remember a few years ago watching the movie “Dead Man Walking.” The parents of the victims were furious with the Catholic sister when she asked for clemency. They wanted the men who had committed the rape and the murder to get the death sentence for their heinous crime. They watched as one of them was put to death by electrocution. They were relieved.
Did it bring their daughter or son back? No. Did it console them? Maybe. But at the end it is only a partial remedy. The lives of both families were shattered forever.
A different scenario—in real life—took place in another part of the world. A white American girl went to South Africa to help and was murdered by three black Africans. The parents went back to the place where she was murdered. The three guys were put on trial but in a last minute act of courage, the parents decided that they did not want revenge; they did not want to see the death penalty pronounced on their daughter’s murderers. Instead, they hired them to work in a factory they established in her name. Was that an act of courage?
Yes, and it takes courageous people to do that.
The fact is that the IRI has implanted the culture of death. In Iran, death has become more consequential than life. The idea of martyrdom is deeply engrained in the Shi’a religion. In Shi’ism, becoming a martyr is the ultimate act of bravery. In every town and city in Iran, the first tableau you see, is “welcome to the martyr making city of …” (be shahr shahid parvar…. khosh amadid), referring to those who died in the Iran-Iraq war.
Did they sacrifice their lives for protecting Iran? Indeed. But did they have to die? Not all of them, not necessarily. Khomeini prolonged the war for political gains for as long as he could, for it allowed him to externalize Iran’s problems. The soldiers- many in their teens-carried the key to heaven and If there is a heaven, they surely deserved to go there.
One day soon, if and when a new judicial system is established in Iran, we must eradicate this culture of death, that is, if we ever want to establish a society where life has more significance than death.
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your version vs. real history
by Fariba Amini on Tue Oct 27, 2009 09:13 PM PDTUp until now, the discussion on this piece was civil and constructive, until the few last people entered into this conversation.
First of all, the photo was posted by the editor of Iranian.com, not I.
Secondly, SAVAK engaged in torture of prisoners, many of the former savaki tortuters according to the accounts of political prionsers after the Revolution became the new toruters under the IRI.
Thirdly, I will not allow anyone on this website or elsewhere to bad mouth my late father. He was the most genuine, the most honest, the most reputalbe lawyer and human being, a man whose integrity cannot be tarnished. No one, neither the Shah, nor the Islamic Republic have ever been able to point a finger at him. in fact, read my interview with him, when he was the mayor of Tehran, the Shah asked him to drive together to the impoversihed areas of Tehran ; once they were back the Shah told him, Mr. Amini this was the best day of my life. But that Shah was not the same Shah when he went along with his US and British backers and overthrew his own PM with the money from you know who.
Fourthly, you are wrong, and I suggest you read some history, not your version and get some education before you make comments: Mossadeq was against violence, otherwise he could have stayed in power. Kashani and others did not back him when he needed it. Instead Kashani later supported his majesty. and his majesty gave lots of money to the clerics. it is well documented because he was also scared of them. Evin Prison which was once the prison for the Shah's opponents was owned by Savak after Tabatabaee signed it over.
I do not need to apologize to the likes of you... if the IRI has had a a bloody rule, it it because it was planted a long time ago when the Shah did not allow people to read or say what they wanted. He only heard the voice of the people's revolution when it was too late.
and the rest is a sad history Ms. Rusta or whoever you are.. for all of us... but get over it and try to look to the future. The people of Iran are doing that.
Lastly, the young people who went to war sacrificed their lives to defend Iran against Saddam Hussein. We cannot ignore the truth.
Please refrain from more white-wash
by Farah Rusta on Tue Oct 27, 2009 07:02 PM PDTLook at the photograph you have chosen for your article. Look at the boy who is standing next to Hoveyda's lifeless body, proudly brandishing his stolen gun. He was a teenager too!
These teenagers were the foot soldiers of Khomeini's murderous revolt. One of them is the current President. Please don't feign innocence by claiming to have been a mere teenager.
The white-wash in your reply is even worse than the artilce itself. Fatemi, was not merely voicing a harmless opinion. He was openly, calling for the violent overthrow of the monarch, confiscation of the royal properties and foul-mouthing towards the king and the qeen. His master Mossadegh, did not express any disapproval. If this is not treason, then what is it? He did not deserve to die but did not ask for royal pardon.
And as for SAVAK, it was Mossadegh's cabinet that first proposed the establishment of a secret police but did not last to see it pass through the Majles. And we are talking about the same Mossadegh whose cabinet passed a bill through the Majles to free the Islamic terrorist, who had assasinated Mossadegh's predecessor, General Razm Ara, meaning Khalil Tahmasebi - thanks to the ill-fated alliance between Mossadegh and Kashani. Twenty five years later, Mossadeghs followers made another ill-fated pact with one of Kashani's staunchest supporters - Khomeini. The rest is history.
No amount of apology can redeem you or Jebhe Melli for the scale of calamity that has befallen Iran under the Islamic regime, thanks to Bazargan's deceitful collaboration with Khomeini.
FR
Re: A Culture of Death
by darroos on Tue Oct 27, 2009 06:48 PM PDTTotally disgreed with AryamehrNYC blaming it on Islam. We need to blame it on our Persian culture and ourselves, from the day the country was founded killing was normal and people never ashamed of. See my view below.
what do you call all mollahs at the bottom of the ocean
by oktaby on Tue Oct 27, 2009 08:14 PM PDTA good start. 'eradicating culture of death' starts with eradicating the islamic regime in its totality, and reforming the Jebheyeye Melli that 'after' Mossadegh became a gavshotorpalang and a long term catalyst for 79 mutiny, and reforming other apologists including those who watched and condoned executions and injustice and then quote the islamic racist constitution as though it ever meant anything. Your quote is telling: “still, they should have had a fair trial, with attorneys present, and be given prison terms.” I sighed. My father was right."
apparently your notion of justice in agreement with your father is to predetermine that putting them in prison rather than killing them is the right thing to do and that is your definition of 'fair trial'. Atonement is good but MRX1's term 'delusional' and FR's advice on refrain from 'deceitful white wash' should be heeded.
OKtaby
Craig you sound a bit older
by timothyfloyd on Tue Oct 27, 2009 05:21 PM PDTCraig you sound a bit older than myself,I was right behind you tho.I do remember when they brought the death penalty back but not in my state which was really against it.I recall a case in Florida I was concerned with,it was really in the press back then.My guess is Florida and Texas are the most well known for frying people.Florida is so beautiful and the most tropical state but I wouldn't live there and Texas,yea right! You're point about Iran's oversight in their judiciary is right on,I would think that would be one their biggest trust problem with the people right now.
Ms. Amini: thank you for such a great article
by Arash Monzavi-Kia on Tue Oct 27, 2009 02:13 PM PDT"... the IRI has implanted the culture of death. In Iran, death has become more consequential than life.
The idea of martyrdom is deeply engrained in the Shi’a religion. In Shi’ism, becoming a martyr is the ultimate act of bravery.
In every town and city in Iran, the first tableau you see, is “welcome to the martyr making city of …”
timothyfloyd
by ex programmer craig on Tue Oct 27, 2009 12:45 PM PDTYou sound like you are old enough to remember when the US ended the death penalty in the early 1970s, and resumed the death penalty in the the late 1970s. I was justa kid but I recall the amount of public debate on the issue. Since the US was much more "left-leaning" then than it has been since, I think the matter is pretty much resolved in the US. Unless we undergo some significant cultural shift, anyway!
But on to the subject of the post! In the US, the Supreme Court initially struck down the death penalty because the justices believed it was being arbitrarily and unfairly applied. I have to believe that if judicial abuses were as bad in the US as they obviously are in Iran, that the vast majority of Americans would oppose Capital Punishment across the board. Any judicial system that will execute people for their political views will not hesitate to fabricate criminal cases. And when there's no oversite of the judicial system, it's impossible to even review cases to assess their validity after the fact.
not to you..
by Fariba Amini on Tue Oct 27, 2009 12:40 PM PDTDear friend, cost of progress:
I am sorry if I miscommunicated earlier. I was only addressing you in the first 2 paragraphs. the apology business was intended towards those who say that people like me should ask for forgiveness.
well, we all should in one way or another. I start with myself.
I think you were addressing me...
by Cost-of-Progress on Tue Oct 27, 2009 12:18 PM PDT..." Do you apologize to us for having supported a regime who murdered Hossein Fatemi because he voiced his opinion? Do you apologize for the tortures of Savak? do you apologize for imprisoning Mossadeq after putting him on trial for "treason?" I believe it is past the apology business... we need to overcome all our anger and build a society that torutre and imprisonment of ideas and souls is forever abolished. As a suggestion, I think the best way to deal with the thugs of the IRI is to put them in labor camps and make them work hard."
Where did you get the idea that I supported the regime that murdered Fatemi? I too was a teenager during the Shah's regime and left after highschool. That was 2 years before the so called revolution. No, I did not know anyone who was persecuted by the regime then but that does not make me a supporter - NOT that I opposed it then or oppose it now. I simply had other things on my mind back then to pursue the destruction of what I believed to be a good enough thing at the time.
fact remains that many iranians were and still are looking for utopia...In that search we lost the little we had and now have to deal with this filthy anti nationalist regime. Its that simple.
________________
PUT IRAN FIRST
________________
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by timothyfloyd on Wed May 12, 2010 07:51 PM PDT.
two cases in the US
by Fariba Amini on Tue Oct 27, 2009 12:02 PM PDT//eji.org/eji/childrenprison/deathinprison/sullivan.graham
Cyrus Kadivar's article on the history of political assasination is a very good read.
apology
by Fariba Amini on Tue Oct 27, 2009 11:50 AM PDTDear Ms. Amini
by Cost-of-Progress on Tue Oct 27, 2009 10:12 AM PDTThanks you for this thoughtful and well written article. While I agree with the basic premise of the article. I believe that you have mixed two very different subjects here although on the surface, they may not be so different.
You compare the killings of former regime officials as well as the systematic extermination of often innocent Iranians at the hands of a brutal regime to that of convicted murderes in other societies. The motiviations and reasoning that the regime has used - and continues to use - are far different than the carrying out of a death sentence on a convicted pedophile that rapes and murders a child, or the animal that rapes and cuts the throat of a woman in a park. In the case of a government that carrys out such acts, one can see the deep hatered inflicated by centuries of ill thougths handed over generation by generation as well as the manipulation of masses by lies and superstitous nonsense. Most of the ordinary folks, even to date, who carryout such tasks for the regime are fueled by the fear and intimidation that if they do not preserve the status quo in Iran, the soceity will turn secular, which in their narrow minds equals blasfemy. For the so called leaders who actually are the cause of such atrocites, the need to cling to power as well as ideological motivations are the driving force behind such heinous crimes against humanity - their own people.
I understand the opposition to capital punishment and although I am not a right wing nut case, I happen to agree with Capital Punishment (in most cases), but that is not what we're talking about here.
I agree that we need to end the cycle of hatred and the elimination of those we do not agree with or fear. I believe, however, that it is easier said than done as long as the bulk of Iranians subscribe to 7th century mentalities.
________________
PUT IRAN FIRST
________________
A Culture of Death
by AryamehrNYC on Tue Oct 27, 2009 09:38 AM PDTWelcome to Islam. How great it is! NOT!
The Cheapening of Iranians Blood
by Onlyiran on Tue Oct 27, 2009 09:16 AM PDTI wrote a blog some time ago with the same title as the one in the subject line. Here's the link: //iranian.com/main/blog/onlyiran/cheapening-iranian-blood.
The IRI ushered in a culture of death and glorification of death that continues to today in Iran. Death used to be a big deal before the revolution. Now, after millions dead in the war, executions, etc., death in the Iranian society has lost its "shock value" (for lack of a better word). It has become ordinary, common place and at times, expected. I imagine that it will take a great deal of time to erase this morbid mindset from the Iranian society and culture after the inevitable removal of the IRI.
On a lighter note, has anyone noticed how the moron in the white shirt is holding the G-3 automatic rifle? He is pointing it at the other guy with his finger on the trigger. One involuntary twitch of the index finger, and the other thug will be lying in the cooler next to Hoveyda. What a bunch of hoodlums, idiots and thugs...and now, thirty years later, we have to live with the legacy of these mindless idiots...
A Culture of Deciet
by Farah Rusta on Tue Oct 27, 2009 08:52 AM PDTIt is worth remembering that Mr Bazargan and his entire cabinet and associates kept a sheepish silence in the face of the initial waves of the barbaric executions and never raised a life saving protest. They kept to their posts with the lame excuse of safeguarding the interests of the nation!! They only deceived the nation into thinking that Khomeini's Islamic regime, whose barbarity, lawlessness, and even its anti-Islamic nature, was evident from the moment one, was a nationalist regime!! Bazragan's cabinet and their appointed servants' collaboration with Khomeini paved the way for the feldgling Islamic regime to grow into the monster that it became. Now three decades later the offspring of those who deceived the nation are still at it in order to white wash their parent's collusion.
In the least we need an apology not another deceitful white wash.
FR
Well Said!
by Maryam Hojjat on Tue Oct 27, 2009 04:58 AM PDTinsightful article about this brutal regime.
Payandeh Iran& Iranians
Indeed Fariba Jaan
by Darius Kadivar on Tue Oct 27, 2009 03:58 AM PDTThank you for this Honest and enlightening Article.
As They Say in French:
PLUS JAMAIS CELA !
Recommended Reading:
Dialogue of murder:A cautionary tale that must not be forgotten by Cyrus KADIVAR
The general's widow By Cyrus KADIVAR
Recommended BOOKS:
BOOK: EVEN AFTER ALL THIS TIME By Afschineh Latifi ( A Memoir )
Nocturne iranien : Mémoires d'exil du colonel Bidgoli Rad, de l'armée de l'air impériale iranienne de Claudine Monin-Krijan
The Persian Sphinx: Amir Abbas Hoveyda and the Riddle of the Iranian Revolution by Abbas Milani
Culture of "me first"
by میرزا چغندر on Tue Oct 27, 2009 03:15 AM PDTتصویری كه بر مقاله تان نصب کرده اید علاوه بر فرهنگ مرگ حاکم بر اجتماع ، فرهنگ ناجوانمردی، بزدلی و خیانت حاکم بر خانواده پهلوی را بر ملا میکند.
Well said Fariba
by Ahmed from Bahrain on Tue Oct 27, 2009 02:02 AM PDTKilling is a form of revenge even if it is done legally. It is driven by fear and neither fear nor revenge is courageous.
Courage is to remain human in the face of adversity.
Ahmed from Bahrain
I agree....
by shushtari on Mon Oct 26, 2009 09:08 PM PDTthat it takes courage to forgive....
but, in my opinion, these animals do not deserve any mercy.....as long as loonies like khamenei and ahmadinejad and all their ex-hendooneh salesmen ministers and politicians are alive, they pose a threat to iran and its people......there comes a time when you have to admit that some humans cannot be rehabilitated.....
the blood of all the innocent generals, soldiers such as gen oveissi, neshat, badrei, and many other brave men who were murdered in cold blood at the hands of these animals must be avenged....
a day soon will come when these animals will be sorry they were ever born.....
javid iran
well said and well written Ms. amini
by mahmoudg on Mon Oct 26, 2009 08:27 PM PDTwell said and well written Ms. amini
Make it easy...
by Jeghele on Mon Oct 26, 2009 07:52 PM PDTThank you MRX1.
Trouble is those who created this nightmarish regime do not seem to get it, or their ego is so huge that they cannot bring themselves to apologising for the historical blunder they have made and the immense loss and grief they have caused. When things change- and things will change- these monsterous "intellectuals" of all sorts will turn coats and will rank themselves as dissidents under the IRI regime. Mark my words !
Re: A Culture of Death
by darroos on Mon Oct 26, 2009 07:45 PM PDTThank you for such a great article. I agreed with you and may peace be with your father who was a great man.
Unfortunately, in Iran the human lives has no value and many Iranians (I even can say most Iranians) believe in death penalty.
Going back to your story, I vividly remember when I visited Kerman 4 years after revolution to see my sister, as we were heading to her house from airport, she showed me an overpass and told me that 10 people were hanged here and their bodies were hanging for over a week.
During the same visit, I heard the hanging judge (named in your article) in his infamous visit to Sanandaj asked his criminal entourage to go to the hospital and pick a patient (late Mr. Vali Sanandji – a good friend of my father) and bring him to airport where Khalkhali was staying and he put this poor man in front of firing squad with no trial.
Recent killing and injuring innocent people in the streets of Tehran proved to me that no matter how much we claimed that we have 3000 years history but as a nation we have a long way to go to consider ourselves a civilized society -(those who were hitting and killing other innocent people also were Iranians and I appreciate what Dariush and Korosh have done --- but we have been bad children and they must be ashamed of us).
I agree
by jamshid on Mon Oct 26, 2009 04:40 PM PDT"One day soon, if and when a new judicial system is established in Iran, we must eradicate this culture of death, that is, if we ever want to establish a society where life has more significance than death."
Very nicely put. And that is the very first step toward a true democracy.
Change
by RayMorrison on Mon Oct 26, 2009 03:17 PM PDTTotal change of the political structure in Iran. A secular regime on a democratic basis.
A Culture of Death
by RayMorrison on Mon Oct 26, 2009 03:15 PM PDTIran needs a total change of the political structure. Its simular as from the Nazis. Using same methods. Intimidation, arrests, torture, rape and executions. Only the people can free themself. But its so hard.
Make it easy
by MRX1 on Mon Oct 26, 2009 02:36 PM PDTYou know every day we read or hear from people like you or folks who are in charge of the regime in Iran and now some how out of gaz and ideas about how economey, social freedom, justice, commerce, tourism you name it was much better during the time shah than your beloved republic.
So you know what, instead of all these mumbo jumbos just admit that you people made a huge mistake and as a result a country got screwed and millions vanished in war and excution chambers. Applogize to new generation and may be just may be if we get lucky we can at some point go back to what we had in 1979 and if we are lucky build on that.Enough of these delusional thinkings....