Iran Executed 12 Prisoners Sunday, January 15 2012

Iran's on a roll.

12 people were executed on Sunday January 15- no day of rest for them!

Iran Human Rights, January 15: According to the reports from Iran 12 prisoners were executed in the city of Shiraz (southern Iran) today January 15th.

Iran Human Rights (IHR) had earlier this week warned about the scheduled execution of nine prisoners in Shiraz.

According to the state run Iranian news agency Fars, five prisoners were hanged publicly in three different parts of Shiraz, while seven prisoners were were hanged in the Adelabad prison of Shiraz.

The five prisoners who were hanged in public were identified as:

1. Rahmat Heydari, convicted of kidnapping, murder and armed robbery. He was arrested four weeks ago and his judicial process lasted less than a month.

2. Esmaeil Hamidi Mahmood Abadi, convicted of armed robbery

3. Ali Hadavinia, convicted of armed robbery

4. Mohammad Nabi Tavakoli, convicted of kidnapping and rape

5. Ramin Darakhshan, convicted of rape and kidnapping

Age of none of the prisoners was mentioned in the report.

According to this report seven other prisoners were hanged in the Adelabad prison of Shiraz this morning. All these prisoners were convicted of drug-related offences and none of them were identified by name.

That now makes a total of more than 54 people (that we know of) who have been executed since the beginning of 2012.

Way to go Iran. Keep racking up those deaths, so you can maintain top honors for the greatest number of executions per annum .  Allah and Mohammad would be very proud of you.

Iran's National Sport- Public Hangings

When I think of public executions I think of past centuries, certainly not something a civilized society in the 21st century would participate in. But Iran still hangs people in public squares, and they're attended by huge crowds.

In, fact, those hangings are a good time for daddies to bond with their kiddies.

And it provides great photo ops. The official Iranian Fars News Agency posted 25 of those gruesome pictures on their website for posterity. And check out the spectators' cell phones and point and shoots. 

The 'Iranian Human Rights' website claims that public executions have surged over the past few months and that

Iranian authorities announce the executions and broadcast them through the state media.

They've also called on the United Nations to help end public executions.

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the spokesperson of IHR, asked the international community to act immediately in order to stop these barbaric acts. He said: Public executions are not only inhumane and degrading for those executed, but also for those watching including the children". He added: "We ask the UN to take serious steps in order to put an end on this inhumane and brutalizing punishment".

 Of course, the useless U.N. is more interested in censuring Israel and promoting events like Durban 111, than dealing with barbaric practices that still exist in so many countries with Sharia law, like public hangings and stonings. Don't expect them to do anything about it!  And with Iran's track record for being the world's leader as far as executing people goes, I'm sure they won't lose that title any time soon.

Iran Refuses Brazil's Offer Of Asylum For Woman Sentenced To Death By Stoning

 43-year-old Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, an Iranian widow and mother of two, was scheduled to be stoned to death for allegedly committing adultery, an unproven allegation that she vehemently denies. After a global campaign to stop her execution, Iranian officials begrudgingly did, but who knows for how long. There are those who think she might eventually be hanged, given the Iranian government's penchant for blood. But whether she's stoned or hanged is irrelevant. Yes, adultery is considered morally wrong by most religions, but  does it warrant a death sentence? Only in the barbaric realm of Shariah law, where even a widow or a single person is considered to have committed adultery if they have sexual relations outside of marriage.  Even if she was guilty of committing adultery, that is an issue between Sakineh and her God, not for any 'man' to judge.  Apparently, she was coerced into confessing after being brutally flogged, but she swears she is not guilty.

The whole world has rallied to save this woman, but I'm sure it's only made the rogue leaders of Iran  dig  their heels in even harder. Brazil very kindly stepped up to the plate and has offered asylum to Sakineh, a great opportunity for the Iranians to show their mercy, but they refused the offer, just proving how cruel and inhumane they are.

Despite international pressure, Iran said Tuesday that it rejects Brazil's offer of asylum for an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva proposed Saturday to give sanctuary to Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, whose case has garnered global attention.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Lula lacked sufficient information about the case, the state news agency Agencia Brasil said.

Iranian human rights activists, along with other human rights organizations across the globe, have been tirelessly campaigning for her release, but nothing seems to have helped other than postponing the inevitable death of an innocent woman.

Meanwhile, a human rights activist who has taken up Ashtiani's case penned a letter to Lula, saying that his offer was an "important step" in saving Ashtiani from undue punishment.

Mina Ahadi of the International Committee against Stoning said the campaign to save Ashtiani's life will continue. She said she hopes Brazil and other governments will keep up pressure on the Islamic regime in Tehran, which she said rules through fear and punishment and should not be recognized by the international community.

"Allow me, as a representative of the oppressed people in Iran, to say that I not only want to save Sakineh and abolish stoning, but that I also ask all heads of state not to recognise the Islamic regime as the representative of the Iranian people but to see it as the murderer of people in Iran," Ahadi wrote in her letter to Lula.

And even though Brazil and Iran have one of the few existing semi-cordial relationships in the global sphere, refusing Lula's offer is a slap in the face of those improved relations.

What harm could there have been in shipping Sakineh and her children off to Brazil? It might have made the Iranian government look a tad better, but they don't really care what others think. So they'll continue to persecute and execute innocent people, because they can.