Justice served....?

[I think not]

Man sentenced to have eyes gouged out in Iran
Jun 27, 2005
Amnesty International

Amnesty International is calling for a sentence of eye gouging against a man in Iran not to be carried out. The 28-year-old man, known only as Vahid, has been sentenced to have his eyes surgically gouged out for a crime committed when he was 16 years old.

The Iranian Supreme Court rejected an appeal earlier this month and ordered that the punishment should be carried out.

It may now be inflicted at any time and Amnesty International has issued an 'Urgent Action' appeal against the sentence and is urging the authorities to abolish punishments such as eye-gouging which constitute cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, amounting to torture.

Amnesty International UK Media Director Mike Blakemore said:

"This is a truly shocking case amounting to a sentence of judicial torture.

"We appeal to the Iranian authorities to guarantee that this punishment is not carried out and would further appeal to all medical practitioners in Iran to have nothing to do with this gruesome punishment."

According to Iranian press reports, Vahid was convicted of deliberately pouring acid from a battery on the face of another youth, Gholam-Hossein, blinding him. This took place in 1993, when Vahid had been working as a labourer in the capital, Tehran.

Vahid reportedly maintained throughout his trial that the attack was not intentional and that he had only meant to threaten the youth with the battery during an argument, but the battery?s lid had opened accidentally, causing the injury.

The trial court reportedly ordered that Vahid's eyes be sprayed with acid as retribution (qesas) for his actions. Vahid?s lawyer appealed, arguing that the rest of his face would also be damaged from the acid.

The appeal was reportedly rejected by a second court which ruled instead that Vahid's eyes would be surgically gouged out in order not to damage his face.

Vahid's lawyer is reportedly seeking clemency for his client from Gholam-Hossein's family.

Vahid has been asked to pay three billion Rials (approximately ?150,000) as diyeh (blood-money) to escape the punishment, but he has reportedly said that he does not have that much money.

Amnesty International's appeal on behalf of Vadim comes the day after International Day in Support of Victims of Torture (26 June) and is part of the organisation?s current campaign against all forms of torture, including torture in the 'war on terror'.

http://www.iranian.ws/iran_news/publish/article_7898.shtml

 

[Jay]

I hope its covered by their public healthcare system....

 

[I think not]

This would be a good opportunity for a mutlinational corporation to spend $150,000 and spread some good feeling around, even if it were for advertising purposes.

 

[Jay]

Very good point.

 

[I think not]

Re: RE: Justice served....?

Very good point.

Yeah but they're stupid. They have no idea how to advertise, they should hire moia :lol:

 

[Jay]

I'm sure your very good with other peoples money.

 

[I think not]

Exceptionally good

 

[manda]

Man...that's quite the youth justice system that they have in Iran...one more reason to love being Canadian

 

[Reverend Blair]

How come Amnesty International is the hero when they go after Iran but when they were calling the Bush administration onto the carpet for torture they were bad people with a leftist agenda?

 

[I think not]

Funny you should say that, because I don't think they are "heroes" since they are sitting behind a desk doing nothing. Maybe they should raise some money and save the guys eyes? I'm sure if they cut down on a trip or two they can raise it easily.

 

[Reverend Blair]

I don't think you understand the way Amnesty International works, ITN. If they were to hire some mercenaries to go in and rescue this guy, they would lose all access not just in Iran, but all over the world.

I realise that it doesn't make for a good movie of the week, or even a schlocky human interest story, but AI and similar groups have a lot of sway. Most of that comes from simply publicising stories like this one. When your government ignores and denigrates them, it erodes the power that human rights groups have.

 

[I think not]

I wasn't speaking of sending in mercenaries. I was speaking of tea and crumpets. The Iranian government has put a price on the mans eyes. AI is sitting back and writing articles. The UN is sitting back and probably doesn't even know about it. F*ck the US. If anything this should be hitting home to Canada, Zahra Kazhemi for example (if I spelt her name right).

Instead you're spinning this on the US, once again. There are other horrors in this world Rev. Believe it or not, that have nothing to do with the US.

AI compares Gtimo with the gulag for example. Ah yes flushing the Quran down the toilet is comparative to dying of starvation.

 

[Andygal]

You don't get it. AI works by publicizing human rights abuses which then causes people to put pressure on those responsible in order to stop them. Most of the time governments that commit human rights abuses do so quietly, if their abuses are brought out into the public eye they may well stop the abuse just to avoid being seen in a negative light by the global community. If the abuse doesn't get brought to the attention of the global community it will continue indefinately behind closed doors and cloaks of secrecy.

 

[Reverend Blair]

Andy has got it. Good call, Andy.

Careful though...noticing human rights abuses by the US makes you an anti-American subversive. Noticing human rights abuses by Iran makes you a hero...at least now. When the US had the Shaw in their pocket, noticing Irani human rights abuses made you a communist subversive.

The one absolute constant in my life is that if Americans (especially Republicans) were calling me a subversive, I knew I was on the right path. ;-)

 

[I think not]

Re: RE: Justice served....?

You don't get it. AI works by publicizing human rights abuses which then causes people to put pressure on those responsible in order to stop them. Most of the time governments that commit human rights abuses do so quietly, if their abuses are brought out into the public eye they may well stop the abuse just to avoid being seen in a negative light by the global community. If the abuse doesn't get brought to the attention of the global community it will continue indefinately behind closed doors and cloaks of secrecy.

Really? Give me an example how AI has stopped torture by means of public eye pressure.

 

[Jo Canadian]