Daphne Anson: Which Western Women On Press TV Weep For This Dodgy Justice?

Eretz Israel is our unforgettable historic homeland...The Jews who will it shall achieve their State...And whatever we attempt there for our own benefit will redound mightily and beneficially to the good of all mankind. (Theodor Herzl, DerJudenstaat, 1896)

We offer peace and amity to all the neighbouring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all. The State of Israel is ready to contribute its full share to the peaceful progress and development of the Middle East. (From Proclamation of the State of Israel, 5 Iyar 5708; 14 May 1948)

With a liberal democratic political system operating under the rule of law, a flourishing market economy producing technological innovation to the benefit of the wider world, and a population as educated and cultured as anywhere in Europe or North America, Israel is a normal Western country with a right to be treated as such in the community of nations.... For the global jihad, Israel may be the first objective. But it will not be the last. (Friends of Israel Initiative)

Monday, 16 May 2011

Which Western Women On Press TV Weep For This Dodgy Justice?

What a hellhole the Islamic Republic of Iran is for women.

Especially those who run sufficiently foul of the regime to be arrested, often on the flimsiest grounds.

It's been reported (and confirmed http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4068646,00.html) that among the victims of the Islamic Republic of Iran's draconian laws, which have seen record numbers of prisoners hanged in recent months - 64 of them within one fortnight alone, and six (including two opposition activists) on Monday - were a Jerusalem-born Jewish woman of Iranian origin in her mid-fifties, Adiva Mirza Soleyman Kalimia, and her Armenian Christian husband, Varjan Petrosian.The couple met their deaths, with others (two men and one woman, who remain unidentified), in the courtyard of Teheran's Evin Prison on 14 March.

It's not known what offence they supposedly committed, nor what they were doing in Iran, and although Ms Kalimia's arrest was officially due, it seems, to a charge of adultery, Evin is known for its political prisoners' wing.

Last year, despite a vigorous campaign on her behalf by international human rights groups with well-founded doubts concerning her guilt, Iran hanged yet another woman – something that Britain last did in 1956, when Ruth Ellis went to the gallows for her part in a murder. Forty-year-old Shahla Jahed, whose first trial in 2004 had “procedural errors”, was convicted of the 2002 murder of Laleh Saharkizan, the first wife of her former lover, 1980s football star Nasser Mohammadkhani. Shahla had been in a temporary marriage with him – one of those ploys that Shia Islam permits – and he reportedly was there to see her executed. So was her victim Laleh’s brother (or son, depending on which report you read), who kicked the chair from under Shahla, who after praying burst into tears and screamed for her life to be spared.

In Iran, following imposition of a death sentence, the convicted prisoner’s family is permitted to make a direct appeal to the family of the victim’s family to stop the execution from going ahead. But Shahla's lawyer, Abdol-Samad Khoramshahi, claims that he was given insufficient time properly to make the customary appeal for clemency to the victim’s relatives. "According to the rules I should have been informed 48 hours before the execution so that I can go to the bereaved family asking them to forgive Shahla for the last time," he said. Instead, he had just a few hours. Judiciary officials also joined in the appeals for mercy, reports indicated.

Malcolm Smart, Amnesty director for the Middle East and North Africa, said there were "strong grounds" to believe she had not receive a fair trial."She may have been coerced into making a 'confession' during months of detention in solitary confinement," he said in a statement. “She retracted that confession at her trial but the court chose to accept it as evidence against her."

The Council of Europe said the execution showed that Iran's government had "little respect for human rights". "I am dismayed by this latest execution in Iran and also by the inhumane way in which it was carried out," said the organisation's secretary-general Thorbjorn Jagland. There were numerous strong denunciations of the trial and execution, some by Muslim women in various countries.

And to add insult to injury, of course, Iran had lately attempted to acquire a seat on the UN Commission on the Status of Women. No wonder that bid was blocked, and a petition, signed by 214 activists and endorsed by over a dozen human rights bodies, was circulated that read:"Iran's discriminatory laws demonstrate that the Islamic Republic does not believe in gender equality. Women lack the ability to choose their husbands, have no independent right to education after marriage, no right to divorce, no right to child custody, have no protection from violent treatment in public spaces, are restricted by quotas for women's admission at universities, and are arrested, beaten, and imprisoned for peacefully seeking change of such laws."

Which western women who receive Ahmadinejad’s shilling - or, rather, rial - by parroting the Iranian line on the propaganda news station Press TV will weep for the “justice system” that convicted, among other members of their sex, Adiva Kalimia and Shahla Jahed?

Alas, I think we all know the answers to that question.

1 comment:

Anonymous20 May 2011 at 17:06
They will not be forgotten, and they will be avenged.
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https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9685/britain-little-lies

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Islamophobia is a false allegation of prejudice which is deployed to silence rational criticism based on actual facts about attitudes and practices within the Islamic world.
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Expose The Lies!

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The "Apartheid" Slur

The division of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) into three separate areas “A”, “B” and “C” was agreed on by Israel and the PLO pursuant to the Oslo Accords.
95% of the West Bank Arabs live in Areas A and B and their daily lives are under the total administration and control of the PLO since the Palestinian Authority was disbanded by Abbas in January 2013. The PLO has total security control in A and shares security control in B with Israel. Israel has total administrative and security control in C.
Israel is entitled to and will continue to take responsibility for the security of Jews living in the West Bank.
Jews were given the legal right to settle in the West Bank under article 6 of the Mandate for Palestine and article 80 of the UN Charter. They did so for decades until they were driven out in 1947 and not able to return there until 1967.
There are Arab roads only in the West Bank that Jews are not allowed to use. Jews are also forbidden from entering Area “A”. Selling land to Jews is forbidden by the PLO under pain of death. The PLO runs the daily lives of 95% of the West Bank Arabs and Hamas runs the daily lives of 100% of the Gazan Arabs. They have been under occupation – and subjugation – by these two evil groups for the last ten years and given no say in their future or any opportunity to elect others to lead them following the disastrous political decisions of their leaders over the past ten years. Hamas and the PLO do not accept the continued existence of a Jewish State and call for its disappearance.
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I am duty-bound to defend freedom, culture, peaceful coexistence, the civic education of children, and all the principles that the Tablets of the Law have rendered universal. Principles which Islamic fundamentalism systematically destroys. This means that, since I am a Gentile, a journalist and a leftist, I have a triple moral commitment to Israel. Because, if Israel were to be vanquished, modernity, culture and freedom would also be crushed. Even though the world has failed to wake up to this fact, Israel's struggle is the world's struggle. Pilar Rahola

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