Thursday, December 28, 2006

Atrocities of the Mullahs

I've blogged about some of the horrors of modern day Iran before. Here's one more to add to the list...

"Some of you may be familiar with the case of Atefeh Rajabi, a girl-child hanged to death in the city of Neka in the early hours of August 15 of 2004. Her crime was officially declared to be "adultery," even though she had never married and was only 16 when the very judge who had condemned her to death served the added role of executioner by personally placing the noose around Atefeh's tiny neck and ordering her body to be lifted. Unofficially, however, Atefeh's crime was defiance – defiance of the un-natural and unreasonable rules that were forced upon her by the Islamic government; defiance of her status as something less than human; defiance of the inequality, poverty, and misogyny that has infested Iran in the past 27 years; and defiance of the binds designed to break the human spirit and destroy the essence of childhood. To the very end, Atefeh maintained her defiance. Witnesses speak of an unusual sense of calmness in her beautiful blue eyes to the last minute. They recount the girl-child's insolent last words, which were: "At the very least, you could have given me a glass of water. Animals are slaughtered more humanely than this.""

Hung at 16 because she committed "adultery." This regime deserves nothing but our contempt. Read the whole thing.

h/t: Countercolumn