Woman waiting for Her Execution and “Discount” from a Hosting Company, The “Iranian Connection”
There are moments of pure joy in the blogosphere. There are times you wish you could touch the hands of people you have had the privilege to know through blogging but have never met in person. When these moments come, you are proud of being a citizen of the blogosphere.
A while back, Bluehost, the company which hosts kamangir.net, announced a partner program. In short, they allowed customers to find new customers and be paid $65 for each sign-up. So I posted an announcement on Persian Kamangir and invited fellow bloggers to take advantage of this opportunity. I offered to pay them back what Bluehost was going to pay me, as a mean to encourage Persian bloggers to move into their personal domains (we also worked out the legalities and let Bluehost administration know about the arrangement).
Soon, four Persian bloggers used the opportunity and set up their blogs in their new domains. That was a few months ago. I promised them that I’ll contact them as soon as I get the check from Bluehost.
Finally, the first check came in a few days ago. It was a $130-check, so I contacted the first two subscribers and asked them for their bank information. Their response is what I would like to call a “pure moment”.
Since a short while ago, we have been involved in collecting $60,000 for releasing a mother from prison. The convicted murderer of her 74-year-old husband, the 32-year-old Akram Mahdavi, is on the death row because she does not have the financial privilege to pay off the requested ransom. She killed her husband after a second arranged marriage was forced upon her by her family. Women’s rights’ activists describe her case as a very typical example of arranged marriages of teenagers to old men (her first husband was forty years older than her). Akram has a 17-year-old daughter from her first marriage (more information in Persian).
If you have not guessed yet how the case of a woman on the death row could have anything to do with “discount” a hosting company offers to its customers, well, that’s what I call the “Iranian Connection”.
Both people whom I contacted for the pay-back asked me to deposit the amount to the fund established for releasing Akram. Is that not something you can be proud of?
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what a great moment with this damn law… once I heard of a case in which close kins of murdered got the money but refused to save the murderer…
I don’t know all the details, but a few things seem a bit off with this story. Why force a young girl into marriage with an old man? Did he abuse her in any way? Did she have any reason to kill him? What’s this business about paying a ransom and avoiding the death penalty? Is money going to right the wrong, if indeed there was a wrong was done here?
But I imagine that even if all the blanks were filled in, the story would still end up pointing toward the absurd. Time to make sense of things. No?
You can read an example of this in Kawthar’s latest post here, and those are just a few from thousands of such cases. Money is one of the leading causes of this. You see this mostly happening amongst the underpriviledged. Either way, it’s going to take us a very long time to criminalize this act throughout the Muslim world. Also, we are not the right people to ask, I cannot imagine anyone here committing such an abusive act against their children. You would have to ask the ones guilty of it, and I’m sure the answers would be along the lines of financial support, religious justification, familial or societal tradition, etc.
Surely she did not kill him to cure her boredom. Something must’ve happened here to inspire such a reaction from Akram, a woman who has obviously suffered a lot of abuse throughout her life.
Kamangir and his blogger friends are supporting a just cause for the sake of human rights - unless you believe that this lady should be hanged. There were cases of young women being sentenced to hanging because they killed their rapists (in self defense and/or revenge.) Can you honestly blame them for reacting like this in a fit of rage and trauma?
In the USA, Canada, and Europe, such cases are held for a long time pending investigation. A lot of the time, the accused is free to go as they were under the influence of “temporary insanity” when committing murder. In Iran and other Muslim countries this is unheard of, people just get sentenced to death. No proper investigation, no attention given to human rights lawyers, nothing, just hanged! This is not right, so Kamangir and his friends are doing the right thing by fighting for her justice, and those like her, and at the same time, campaigning against and raising awareness on hanging or stoning in Iran. Very brave and necessary.
According to Sharia, a murder victim’s family is entitled to diya (blood-money) from the murderer, provided they are willing to forgive her/him. However, once they accept the money, they can no longer demand that the murderer be executed.
The said amount varies from country to country, and generally, on the gender/religious affiliation of the victim
Esra’a and Kawthar,
Thank you very much for your to-the-point explanations.
OK, I’m beginning to understand. In effect, if you’re dealing with a system that is unjust to begin with, as you point out, then you have to resort to tactics, such as paying ransom, to right the wrongs perpetrated by an unjust system. It so happens that in this case the ransom is allowed for in religious law, but it would be the right thing to do even if it were not provided for in religious teachings.
Believe it or not, we have a similar situation here in the U.S., which is considered a very modern and civilized country. We exectute criminals on a regular basis, even though they are entitled to “due process” under the Constitution. However, every once in a while, we hear of DNA evidence which exonerates someone after he served 20 years in jail for a crime he didn’t commit. “Sorry buddy, have a nice day.”
Therefore, since our judicial system makes mistakes, even though such mistakes are rare, I believe that capital punishment is morally wrong. A mistake of this sort cannot be undone. Killing the wrong man would undermine the entire system, because at the heart of justice is the notion that you should protect the rights of the innocent, and how can you do that if you execute the wrong man?
Nissam,
Diyya is a pre Islamic Arabic custom that was translated into Sharia. At one time one could pay ‘diyat’ blood money in posessions/herd animals etc. but in modern times money is prescribed.
Depending on the Islamic school of thought the sums can change. Some schools use one monetary figure for all and others do not.
Saudi Arabia for example:
Muslim Man= 100,000 Riyals
Muslim Woman= 50,000 R
Christian Man= 50,000 R
Christian Woman= 25,000 R
Hindu Man= 6,666 R
Hindu Woman= 3,333 R
This is Hanbali Fiqh. The real reduction for the Hindu’s is due to polytheism.
The rule of thumb is never accidentilly kill a Saudi Muslim Male. You could accidentilly kill 4 Christian Women for the same price.
Nissam,
Diyya is a pre Islamic concept written into Sharia as adopted by Islam. In ancient times diyat could be paid in herd animals and possessions but today it is done in money.
Depending upon the Islamic school one pays according to the one killed. Some schools make the blood price universal in amount regardless of the individual and some others do not.
The Saudi legislated rules follow the Hanbali Fiqh and are adjusted by religion/sex.
i.e.
Male Muslim killed 100,000.00 Riyals
Female Muslim 50,000.
Male Christian 50,000.
Female Christian 25,000.
Hindu Male 6,666.
Hindu Female 3,333.
Arash,
من بودم و نبود به بالین طبیب من
بیمار مانده بود و پرستار رفته بود
I was there without my curer being by my side,
The patient had been left behind and the nurse was gone..
This is the state of our people and how they can take care of their problems…. as serious as the cases you are taking about dear…