The Busy Gallows Of Iran

INTERVIEW BY PEGAH FARAHMAND, ILLUSTRATIONS BY LAURA PARK Iran is the only country in the world that continues to execute children. 2008 saw six teenagers get the chair kicked from under them (that’s right, hanging is the preferred method). Just a few months ago, on October 9 (one day after Iran’s Day of the Child, as the evil gods of irony would have it), the Islamic regime in Iran executed Mohammad Reza Haddadi for a crime he allegedly committed three years ago, when he was 15. One of the most well-known cases of teenage capital punishment in Iran is that of Atefeh Rajabi, who was sentenced to death for having sex with a married man when she was 16. In 2004 Atefeh was taken to prison for the supposed indiscretion. She claimed in court that she had been raped by the 51-year-old married taxi driver, a man named Ali Darabi, who had picked her up on the street. After her protesting words in court, Judge Haji Rezai sentenced her to death. A week later he personally put the noose around her neck. Evidence was later revealed that Judge Rezai himself may have raped Atefah while she was being tortured in prison. Fear of that news coming out would have certainly given him a sense of urgency in carrying out Atefeh’s sentence. Iran is an Islamic country, deeply entrenched in the teaching of the Koran. This isn’t such a big deal when it comes to stuff like cutting bacon out of your diet. But the underbelly of corrupt religious fundamentalists who disregard the rules of international law, the ones who are hanging kids as if Allah himself were whispering in their ears, these fuckers are beginning to anger and inflame even the most conservative elements of the Iranian public. Many feel that something has got to give—and soon.

Vice: Can you tell us your take on the Atefeh Rajabi case? I mean, a 16-year-old girl is hanged for having sex—which was likely very nonconsensual on her part—with a married man? What’s going on over there? Javad Hosseini: It is very clear that the government lied many times over Atefeh’s sentence and that she should not have been executed. Atefeh had a very difficult childhood. Her mother died in a car accident at a very young age and her father became a drug addict. She was in the incapable hands of her very old grandparents, who left her to her own devices. Basically, Atefeh was loose on the streets. It was not a respectable way for a young girl to be living. She was taken to prison for having sex with this married man, this taxi driver. He was in his 50s and had a daughter. When Atefeh was in court she claimed that she was raped. Yet merely a week after she was first accused, the judge sentenced her to death. Her case was not given adequate time or considered fully. And in light of the allegations that the judge raped Atefeh during her incarceration, many believe that shame and fear of the truth being exposed compelled him to want her dead straight away. Mohammed Mustaaf’i: Islamic law states that if a married man or a married woman has any sexual relations outside of marriage, the punishment that they will receive is death. This case is complicated but the laws are fairly clear. Shouldn’t it be the man who raped Atefeh swinging from a rope? Hosseini: He received 95 lashes. What’s worse is that they used the term “had sexual relations” when it was actually rape, and that they also lied about her age in court, stating that she was 22 when she was really just 16. Mustaaf’i: Amnesty International has notified the Iranian government that no one under the age of 18 should be sentenced to death, but Iran doesn’t feel obliged to obey any kind of international law. Every time I represent one of these young people in court, I put this concept forward again and again, but the argument is powerless in the face of the law of Islam. This is a law that began 1,400 years ago. From what age does it become acceptable to execute children?

In our country it is established that any girl from the age of 9 and any boy from the age of 15 is liable to be punished by death. At those ages it is deemed that they have reached puberty, so in the eyes of the law they are capable of committing crimes of a sexual nature and they can be punished accordingly. But of course this doesn’t just include sexual crimes. They can be punished for any criminal activities from those ages. Who is in charge of policing these so-called criminals? We have a kind of police that we call Basij. They are pastors who look after religious law. Then there are the official police, who are called the 110. Both of these organizations work under the influence of the court and the high court, but the Basij continually take the law into their own hands and use their own rules of punishment. The Basij and the 110 interfere with each other’s duties and this is something with which we, as a nation, are very frustrated. Hosseini: 110 in Iran is like the emergency phone number 911 in the States. That is how they got their name. They are totally useless. Once our neighborhood was being robbed, and it took them over 45 minutes to get to us. When they turned up they didn’t have any handcuffs. They caught the thief and they tied his hands with some cable. Not exactly state of the art. There is also a lot of corruption within the 110. They will beat students and young people for nothing and they are partial to bribes. If you have a relative who is a lawyer—or if you have any kind of connection to the police—you can just use their name and the 110 are likely to leave you alone. The law can be on your side if you have connections or money—which is incredibly unlucky for 90 percent of Iranians. So yeah, the Basij are really fucked up. There is this old joke that goes: A math teacher asks a Basij in school, “What are parallel lines?” and he replies, “Parallel lines can never reach each other—unless a supreme leader says they must cross over.” In translation it might not make sense, but it perfectly captures their mind-set. In their view, even parallel lines can cross paths if a leader says so. Yeah, not really a knee-slapper, but I get the point. It’s very depressing. It is. I was in Germany recently, and I read a lot about the Nazi regime. I have to admit that I see many similarities. There are only 90,000 uniformed Basij here. The rest of them are what we call Lebas Shakhsi, or “Those With No Uniform.” They are usually from poor families. They function like the Gestapo or the SS. For example, during the recent student movement here, the 110 did nothing, but the Lebas Shakhsi beat everybody in sight. But because they are not officially affiliated, you cannot point a finger at them. And they permeate all levels of society. When I was having coffee with my cousins one night in Isfahan, some uniformed Basij came and grabbed one of them and threw him in the back of their van and took him to prison, where they beat him. It was because he had long hair—he was really into Metallica. Do they just roam the streets looking for metal fans or do they have informants? A bit of both. The Basij, along with a clergy who controls them, work below the supreme leader’s delegate in each city. Their real function is to balance any kind of protest movement—particularly among the young and within universities. If you are a young, registered Basij, you can say so on your application to university and they automatically let you in to help monitor freedom-of-speech movements, women’s movements, and so on. I wonder what they would make of the promiscuous activities of Western college kids. In Iranian universities, if a boy and girl are found sitting next to each other, they will come and give you a warning to not do it again. Is torture commonplace in Iran? Mustaaf’i: In Iran—especially in most of the cases that I deal with—the person who has been accused of a crime will not get any legal aid or representation unless they are very wealthy. Therefore torture is likely to take place. Since it is difficult for the police to gain any evidence, they turn to torture to extract confessions. If I know there is someone who has not had any kind of representation, then I can be pretty sure they have been put through some kind of torture. But if you have a lawyer to represent you, then it can be avoided.

So if you have a lawyer you avoid the whole torture process, but if not, you’re fucked? Essentially, yes. Are the bodies of executed criminals returned to their families? Normally after someone has been sentenced to death, the family come and pick up the body after the execution. However, if nobody comes to pick up the corpse after a certain amount of time, the government will bury the body in an unmarked grave. Can you tell me a bit about the case of Saeed Jazee? From what I’ve heard, he was hanged after killing a guy in self-defense over a sandwich. Saeed was 16. He was at his parents’ home alone one night and because he was hungry he went to his friend’s sandwich shop to get some food. He helped himself to a sandwich, but a new employee at the shop didn’t recognize him. The new guy started to argue with him and picked up a kitchen knife to attack Saeed. As they were wrestling, the knife dropped on the floor and in a panic Saeed picked up the knife and stabbed the guy in the stomach. The blow killed the man, and Saeed was sentenced to death. After sending his case to the Supreme Court, he was set free. Why was he released? The parents of the victim chose not to take ghesass, or revenge, as you would call it. The choice is given to the parents of the deceased to take revenge and execute the guilty or forgive the guilty and accept a payment in compensation. This fee is known as diyeh. The standard diyeh comes out to just over $32,000, but the amount is negotiable. It’s literally blood money. How often are people forgiven for crimes like murder in Iran? Well, it really depends on the family. Bad families don’t forgive. But it does happen. The case of Siya Paymand is well known. He was a 16-year-old whose dying wish was to play the flute. He played on the gallows and the family of the deceased was so moved that they forgave him. Paymand’s family still had to pay a large diyeh to free him. What happens if a family are too hard up to pay the diyeh? Then the chances of being forgiven by the victim’s family are very low. This is where the difference between the rich and the poor becomes apparent. The poor are more likely to suffer. It is that simple. The current case of Behnood Shojaee demonstrates this. He was a 16-year-old who was walking in a park one day when one of his friends got into an argument. Behnood broke up the fight, but as he was walking away, one of the gang cursed his mother. Behnood turned around and stabbed him in the chest with a piece of broken glass from the ground. Due to the slight that provoked him, he was forgiven by the victim’s family. But his own family are too poor to afford the diyeh. He is yet to hang, but it looks like he will. Does the government take any of the blood money? It all goes to the families. Where did the concept of diyeh come from? I am going to go ahead and guess it’s in the Koran. Correct. It came from the Koran. Under sharia law, diyeh is the price of a man’s life valued in livestock. What are the conditions like on death row in Iran? In Iran there is only prison. Those sentenced to death go straight from prison to the gallows. There is nowhere in between. Hanging is the only method of execution used in Iran today. They tie a rope around the neck of the convicted, put a chair beneath them, and then kick the chair from underneath them. Whatever happened to a good old-fashioned stoning? That method is no longer used. Executions are also no longer public. Normally they are executed inside the prison, unless in special cases where they want other people to learn a lesson.

What kind of cases would that include? Multiple murders or drug dealing. Is it common for older convicts to scapegoat the young to escape punishment themselves? Children are very easily influenced and vulnerable, so yes, it is quite common for young people to be used as scapegoats. A prime example of this is the case of Delara Dabiri. She was an artist, a very talented painter who had created a number of drawings that she exhibited all over the country and even abroad. When she was 17, she got involved with a boy. This relationship caused disagreements between the couple and Delara’s aunt. One night they went to the aunt’s house and the boy killed the aunt. Apparently it was over some documents. Because Delara was so young and in love she allowed the boy to convince her that she wouldn’t be punished due to her age. She pled guilty but the court realized that she did not commit murder so the case remains open. I’ve read about this case. It’s also documented that Delara suffered from serious mental problems after entering prison. Due to her age and innocence, being subjected to prison caused great stress and pressure. The Iranian prison system is full of people who have no hope and have lost all faith. There is a lot of violence and corruption. Drugs are distributed regularly, and there is a lot of illness. The people in prison know that their lives are going to end and so they live in a state of desperation and despair. Prison is very difficult. What is the Iranian judicial system’s stance on homosexuality? When two men have sexual relations with each other the punishment is death. The law is very clear and very hard on homosexuals. What is your opinion on the death penalty? I disagree with capital punishment. I think that those who are over 18 should be held accountable for their actions, but it has been proven that the death penalty does not stop crime. I work mostly with children—sometimes up to 25 or 30 cases at a time—and all of these kids are on death row with little chance of reprieve. Can you see change in the future? The laws have changed in the past, so it seems natural that they may change again in the future. In the past, punishments were worse than today. They would use methods such as heat torture, which involved taking a piece of iron, heating it in the fire, and pushing it through the hand. Or they made people walk over hot sand, which can be very painful. These methods have not been used for many years now. How do you cope with seeing so many children who will almost inevitably be sentenced to death? Hosseini: I have stopped being angry. It is a waste of energy. Many of the people enforcing these laws are from the harsh, poor sections of society. For Islam to survive, a large portion of society must be kept in bad conditions, and they are then presided over by the very rich. However, I remain optimistic that this way of life is doomed to fail. Mustaaf’i: I just think about helping them and I try to distance myself from work in my personal life. Otherwise there is no way I would be able to focus. I have been working on children’s cases for four years, but before that I was working to fight sang saz [execution by stoning to death]. And now, thankfully, that method of execution does not exist anymore. That alone gives me hope for the future.