Analysis When 'humanism' doesn't serve human beings, but political agendas
If Teresa Lewis was Iranian... or if Sakineh Mohammadi was not
Teresa Lewis is scheduled for execution next 23rd of September in the United States of America. Her crime? Premeditating the assassination of her husband with a man she sold her body to (CBS News).
Regardless of one's taste or distaste for capital punishment, what would we think if Iranian media and authorities frantically tried to portray her as a poor woman oppressed by an evil Western male-dominated society? Ah, the media machinery of a rogue regime selling some backwards cultural propaganda!
At the time of writing this article, however, the Iranian side had not incurred in such desperate logic - or rather lack thereof - which we Westerners seem so fond of. Only a day after the publication of this entry, it was revealed that Teresa Lewis was not an ordinary convict, but a mere 3 to 4 IQ points away from mental retardation (Huffington Post), rendering her a partially unconscious felon and changing the conditions.
The fact that clemency was denied for her was not all that surprising when tracking the history of female executions in the state of Virginia: To this mentally retarded woman one can only add an African American teen, the 17-year-old Virginia Christian, executed in 1912 (WDBJ7). Which begs the question: Is justice equally applied to everyone in the so-called land of human rights, or it rather selectively targets the weakest members of its society?
On the other side of the planet, in the enigmatic land of Iran, Sakineh Mohammadi went along Teresa Lewis' steps and coincidentally committed the exact same crime her American colleague did. Instead of selling her body to the killer of her husband, Sakineh Mohammadi... well, Sakineh Mohammadi had taken the liberty to do the same. One difference was that she was in no position to offer her body as payment, as she had given it away for free to the man behind the trigger, her lover, years before. And the other difference was that, contrary to Teresa Lewis, Sakineh Mohammadi was in full mental capacity when premeditating the termination of her own husband's life.
The fact that clemency was denied for her was not all that surprising when tracking the history of female executions in the state of Virginia: To this mentally retarded woman one can only add an African American teen, the 17-year-old Virginia Christian, executed in 1912 (WDBJ7). Which begs the question: Is justice equally applied to everyone in the so-called land of human rights, or it rather selectively targets the weakest members of its society?
On the other side of the planet, in the enigmatic land of Iran, Sakineh Mohammadi went along Teresa Lewis' steps and coincidentally committed the exact same crime her American colleague did. Instead of selling her body to the killer of her husband, Sakineh Mohammadi... well, Sakineh Mohammadi had taken the liberty to do the same. One difference was that she was in no position to offer her body as payment, as she had given it away for free to the man behind the trigger, her lover, years before. And the other difference was that, contrary to Teresa Lewis, Sakineh Mohammadi was in full mental capacity when premeditating the termination of her own husband's life.
To no one's surprise, the Iranian and the American were sentenced to the exact same punishment. No, not to stoning, a practice only carried out by our favorite Western-backed tyrannies in the Middle East (Christian Science Monitor). Hey, at least those get some sort of trial, unlike the stoning that the West itself and its proxies directly perform on completely innocent foreign peoples, as the horrible 2009 Gaza invasion and its constant siege, recently related by the United Nations to war crimes (Israeli brutality, The Guardian).
The entire rumor, which focused on a supposed stoning and which reduced Mohammadi's case to adultery - conveniently leaving out the assassination -, stemmed from the Iranian dissident in Germany Mina Ahadi. Yet it was promptly debunked by Thomas Effe (IranAnders: The Political Instrumentalization of Human Fate) upon an actual reading of the conviction process documents:
The entire rumor, which focused on a supposed stoning and which reduced Mohammadi's case to adultery - conveniently leaving out the assassination -, stemmed from the Iranian dissident in Germany Mina Ahadi. Yet it was promptly debunked by Thomas Effe (IranAnders: The Political Instrumentalization of Human Fate) upon an actual reading of the conviction process documents:
Contrary to statements by Mrs. Mina Ahadi, no traces of a stoning are present nor is the topic of adultery ever mentioned. Quite the opposite: Only the murder of Ashtiani's husband is addressed.
It will forever be recorded that while Teresa Lewis was not praised by Iranian media or authorities as a poor martyr victim of Western oppression while it was assumed that she was a fully conscious criminal, Sakineh Mohammadi was indeed raised as a banner of the 'human rights' plight by Western media and authorities in countless opportunities in spite of her full consciousness as a murderer.
This raises not just the question of what an unreliable source the Iranian dissidence is (and one can only wonder why our journalists rarely, if ever, bother to question its rumors), but also the more essential question: On which media and authorities does fanaticism really resides? And more importantly, who is the real rogue of the cultural warfare?
This raises not just the question of what an unreliable source the Iranian dissidence is (and one can only wonder why our journalists rarely, if ever, bother to question its rumors), but also the more essential question: On which media and authorities does fanaticism really resides? And more importantly, who is the real rogue of the cultural warfare?
Next 23rd of September Teresa Lewis will be offered a last wish. It would come as no surprise if she begged the Iranian nationality for her and her executors. What a delicious end for any criminal it would be to get hands on an Iranian passport, and thus be remembered as a martyr of freedom and human rights regardless the actual crimes committed. That is, to any criminal interested in the remembrance of the hypocrites.
Interestingly, the only times when the blood of non Westerners weights as much as ours in the scale of our moral supremacism, is when they are criminals.
Related posts
☫ What they meant by 'human rights'
15 comments:
The last paragraph is really funny: To get an Iranian passport and then be in the jail for being stonning!!!!!!!ha ha ha ha,
The most important parts of the worldwide activites on Sakine's acse, is related to the "Stonning" , they are not trying to say she did not any crime! please be acreful!
Mr. Anonymous:
Really? So this is all about human rights? That must be the reason then why the United States - with full Western and Israeli consent - gives 90 billion dollars in weapons to Saudi Arabia as a reward, a regime that - contrary to Iran - has itself been carrying out stoning, as well as it proxies like the Talibans in Afghanistan. Surely it is all about human rights, nothing to do with cultural propaganda. It is not like Western states deny themselves the basic human right to education and free movement to some Muslim women who dress differently and threaten their fragile secularist systems.
The are two main problems with Sakineh's sentence. Iranian judicial process is not transparent and consistent in sentencing people and then the act of stoning is barbaric.
Mr. Anonymous:
Did you even bother to read this article before commenting?
Questions for you:
1) You claim stoning is the problem. This is hard to believe: Our West and Israel gladly agree on arming the Saudi regime with 90 billion dollars while - contrary to Iran - it indeed practices stoning. If stoning criminals is barbaric, then how do we call what our beloved West has done murdering millions of innocents in Iraq? Make a stop on the word "INNOCENTS" for a change. Sakineh Mohammadi is a criminal guilty of murder. The millions that die in secularist genocides every decade have all been innocent fellow humans. Why does their blood have such little value in your mind? Why don't you remind us of their names but only insist on a scarce number of felon Sakinehs? Also, where was your supposed humanitarianism when your beloved secularist Saddam was using chemical weapons against Iranians? You like to dodge your secularist genocides by picking on one Iranian criminal and glorifying her as a martyr of human rights. But if your interest for human rights was sincere, you should address your own demons before politically instrumentalizing human fate.
2) Did you even read the official documents of the case? Your words answer that you merely spoon-fed by a very extremist Iranian dissidence (which accuracy you never bothered to question even for one second - one wonders why), and very extremist Western media which doesn't question its sources as long as they attack the Islamic Iran. How come Thomas Effe who did read himself the original sentence papers did not find a single mention to stoning, adultery or extramarital relations, and rather found it was all linked to the assassination of her husband? Why did he find the claims by the so-called humanitarian Mrs. Mina Ahadi to be falsehoods? What does it say about you who simply parrots views from hearsay? Does it mean you even care about a human being called Sakineh Mohammadi, or that your interest in her is merely confined to demonizing a religious country to cleanse your conscience from the countless genocides that the secularism you subscribe to continues to inflict on human kind?
3) On what do you base your claim that the Iranian system is not transparent? Do you have even one proof to back your statement? What is a transparent system? You mean a UN which imposes sanctions on Iraq killing 2.2 million people including 600,000 children while knowing Iraq was no threat? You mean Westerner systems which invent WMDs lies in order to legitimize their slaughtering of millions of innocent souls? Or maybe a system that demonizes Muslims in order to pass laws to oppress and idiotize its own people more easily? Given that your concept of being transparent seemingly goes along those lines, you can brace yourself and make sure the Islamic Republic of Iran will always stay away from it, very gladly.
Excellent article and good point. The US is just using everything it can to engender hatred towards Islam and Iran or any other country that believes in God since the US has long stopped actually living by any religious values. It frightens so-called Christians almost to death that there is actually a religion on earth that lives by the words revealed by God instead of just pretending to believe. But soon the US will be a pile of rubble, and not from any so-called terrorist act (which are usually done by the US itself to fan the fire of hatred for Islam). It will be Allah who will destroy America, flatten its cities and wipe out two thirds of its population as promised by leaders of the persecuted Mormon Church, a group that was murdered and chased out of the borders of the US in the 1800s because their religion was like Islam. Also because they actually lived by their beliefs which were based on the true original teachings of Jesus before his religion was turned into a pagan nightmare.
Dr. Lloyd Miller
Dr Lloyd Miller,
Thank you for the feedback, however contrary to your claims, I personally know Mormons who admit to me what a heavy backing they have from the Republican Party of the United States of America. Just like Evangelicals, another false contemporary sect of Christianity brought up to support Israel and spread hate mongering against Muslims. If we are talking about turning Jesus' teachings into paganism, there has been no one better than Mormons at it, considering their ridiculous tales on alien cities and our supposed alien ancestry.
And no, we Muslims don't rely on God flattening out American cities, which are filled with good peoples. Would that be divine justice? Maybe in the Mormon view, but we Muslims consider that it is us who must bring about a more just world order via a more faithful practice of Islam, a religion of civilized manners, knowledge-seeking, and piety of heart.
By the way, would you be the same Dr. Lloud Miller who prides himself in worshiping the overthrown monarch tyrants of Iran? http://www.jazzscope.com/VI.html
The most interesting part of blogs for me is the comments. It astonishes (in a good way) me how much effort you (German) put into critically respond to someone's comment but I wish that the commenter would actually come back or if he does respond either agree or disagree.
I guessed instead of wasting my time reading those stupid mind control and out of body crap, I would come read all your blogs.
Arigato for the eyeopener articles
Thanks Hamid. I agree: It would be great to hear of more feedback but unfortunately most people post as anonymous. The only one I have cut short was this suspicious Dr. Miller who is a Mormon trying to use my blog for Mormon proselitism and a lover of the Shah. God knows with what purpose he comes here ^^
I support you brother German keep critism for the human right belong to Allah, Rasulullah and His Family. We are in Indonesia have alot home work about the human right and my tongue became numb
Good work! I'll send it around with a link to this blog. Though the obstinate minds will never cease to argue, these dirty players must know that they too have their limitations. Skeletons cannot be kept locked away forever.
This is ridiculous, since you just make up "facts".
"One difference was that she was in no position to offer her body as payment, as she had given it away for free to the man behind the trigger, her lover, years before. And the other difference was that, contrary to Teresa Lewis, Sakineh Mohammadi was in full mental capacity when premeditating the termination of her own husband's life."
> The main point is that none of this has ever been proven. Neither was there a fair process, nor did the judges even follow Iranian rules of procedure. Furthermore, Sakineh's son and lawyer are being kept in prison under torture. Not to mention that Sakineh already has been punished with 99 slashes from a bullwhip - a torture her son had to witness! And do you really see no difference between being stoned to death and getting a lethal injection? Fin ally, you pretend that there's no opposition to the death penalty in the US. This is ridiculous. A lot of people criticize it, amnesty international, the organization that made Sakineh's case being known, are amongst the biggest antagonists of the death penalty at all.
In case you didn't notice:
Iranians riot against this system under life-threatening conditions. By saying that the Iranian system is as just (or not) as the US system you affront those people, because you don't take the serious! I guess, you are the one who only wants to see what fits to your ideology!
Mr Anonymous:
Now that is a funny comment that backlashes on itself. Let's analyze it.
You accuse me of making up "facts", whereas my article fully gives out references to the very propaganda machinery against Iran, and which back everything that is said.
On the other hand, your comment accusing Iran of torturing, imprisoning lawyers, mentally torturing a woman's son, and "unfair" trials, are sincerely laughable, because it is clear as water that you are merely parroting an indoctrinated script that you never cared even for a second to cross-examine and contrast with reality.
You accuse me of not "proving" anything. Yet let me remind you that it is you and other fellow fake humanitarians who point out the finger at an entire nation and accuse it of obscure, arbitrary and dictatorial. And where is your proof for all of that with which you try to demonize the decisions of millions of fellow humans? Nowhere to be found in the domains of reality of course, but in media which retransmits utter nonsense of the Iranian dissidence and US Department of State Soviet-like propaganda, disproved by the very propagandists as in IranAnders.
You clearly didn't even read this article, as you come out to talk about activists against capital punishment. What has this article got to do with it? I clearly wrote "Regardless of one's taste or distaste for capital punishment". Why should Amnesty International judgment be universal? I forgot they are the unelected presidents of the world whose views on judiciary systems must be implemented worldwide. Would you mind to ask what Iranians believe in? No, of course you would not mind, since all you seem to care about is imposing on millions of beautiful people abroad what some deceivers spoon-feed you with.
Mr Anonymous #2,
Here is a reality check for you: Protesters die every year in riots in pretty much every country of the world, including the Western countries you seem to worship.
You talk of indoctrination and wanting to force ideologies on things, but let's analyze what you imply in your comment:
You say that Iran, contrary to the United States, is not a just country. Iranians are Shia Muslims, an ideology which teaches to work for the arrival of Imam Mahdi, the establishment of justice on Earth. That means, not even they believe Iran is just, and this is very healthy, because it moves them to work towards more justice.
What is concerning is your belief that the West is, however, just. Notwithstanding that we Westerners are responsible for murdering millions of innocent human beings every single decade beyond our borders under no trial of any sort. As one among many examples, let me remind you our West killed 600,000 Iraqi children under sanctions in the 1990s under the excuse of weapons of mass destruction that we knew Iraqis didn't have.
So Iran might not be a just country - and no one in the world, not even Iranian authorities argue so but point out to the urgent need to bring about more justice to the Islamic Republic -, but your claims that the West is an example of justice clearly evidences the level of Soviet-like indoctrination that you are a victim of.
You claim me guilty of trivializing the selfish struggle of a very insignificant minority in Iran because I reference my way into pointing out to a hypocrisy of Westerners praising a FELON murderer as a freedom fighter. Yet you have no problem in trivializing our Western massacres of millions of INNOCENTS whose blood seems to have no value in your moral supremacist view.
As I end this article, it seems the blood of non-Westerners only becomes as valuable as ours when they are criminals, and excuses of humanitarians like yourself continue to prove the point.
To the very 'brave' Iranian dissident residing in Germany who insists on posting as an Anonymous and claims "censorship":
I would love to publish your last comment, no matter how boringly repetitive you are, but you have to understand that your dirty mouth - including disgusting vocabulary in every single paragraph as your "reply" to my reasonable and sincere arguments - can do as little to stain this blog as little it does to stain the nation of the beautiful Iranians.
I recommend you all in the Iranian dissidence, particularly you apologists for Mina Ahadi, to learn some basic human communication skills before you accuse of "censorship" to whoever you set out to insult. For all that matters, I am just doing you a favor not sharing your rude manners with the world!
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