Three Iranian Election Protesters Get Tentative Death Sentence

The semi-official Iranian Students News Agency has announced that three individuals have received a tentative death sentence for their post-election protests. Few other details are available, including the names of the accused, whom the ISNA only identified by initials. They are not the first tried by the theocrats for daring to exercise the human right of protest, but they appear to be the first to face death for their troubles. Many reformist leaders have voiced their opposition to the crackdown, but the jackboots and turbans are running the show right now.

The alleged re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in June sparked massive street protests that eventually fizzled out in the face of heavy violence from the police and their hangers-on. Quite simply, the reactionaries who back the alleged president were taking no chances that the voice of the people might not parrot their party line. When the people refused to ask "how high?" when told to jump, they received encouragement by way of lethal force.

Once the YouTube images of police and militia violence faded away because the protesters grew tired of being beaten, the moral descendants of the Gestapo weren't finished. They didn't keep it much of a secret either. Reformist former President Mohammad Khatami issued a statement in August in which he condemned "the atrocities committed at certain detention centers, as well as those committed during arrests, which, in some cases, resulted in murder." Opposition presidential candidates Mehdi Karrubi and Mir Hossein Moussavi claimed that prisoners have been tortured into confessions.

Naturally, the theocrats denied all of this, at first. However, when the smell got to be too bad, they admitted there were a few bad apples in the prison system (thus excusing the system that they run). One man who ran an Iranian jail was relieved of his command and was subsequently arrested. One doesn't know the Farsi word for "scapegoat," but it's quite clear that that word applies here.

While the three sentenced to death may appeal the decision, one doesn't hold out much hope. After all, by refusing to give their names, the government has effectively stopped any action by Amnesty International or other human rights groups from making a fuss ("Free M.Z." is not much of a slogan). The press in Iran certainly isn't going to make any waves, and the ISNA most certainly got permission to run the story, pour encourager les autres.

What is an additional cause for concern is once the judicial murder of any prisoner begins, it becomes all the easier for others to meet the same fate. If the appeals are successful, it will make the regime look benevolent and forgiving, but the world must remember, the regime is there because of a stolen election and a misplaced desire to return to the 10th century. Iran deserves a much better government than it has (then again, that's true of most nations).

© Copyright 2009 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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