Some Grim News from Iran
Last week, Troy drew our attention to Iran, writing "we underplay the national security concerns emanating from Iran and almost entirely ignore the human rights violations."
With that in mind, I draw your attention to two news items about Iran that caught my eye today--one more severe than the other, but both an indication of the grim state of affairs in that country.
The first is that an allegedly gay Iranian couple has been sentenced to death by stoning.
According to a report from the International Committee Against Stoning, the two young men, Ayub and Mosleh, are 20 and 21 years old and have been accused of engaging in homosexual acts, filming them, and incorporating images of Iranian President Ahmadinejad into the film. According to news reports, they will be stoned this Friday "to instill fear in the people of Iran."
The second news item is, in comparison, benign. Still, it shows that the Iranian regime will stop at nothing--no matter how petty--to sap simple happiness out of the lives of ordinary Iranians:
Iran has banned the production of Valentine's Day gifts and any promotion of the day celebrating romantic love to combat what it sees as a spread of Western culture, Iranian media reported.
Valentine's Day has become increasingly popular among the Iranian youth and is a money-maker for businesses in a country where 70 percent of people are under 30 and have no memory of the 1979 Islamic revolution which toppled the U.S.-backed Shah.
Isn't it only a matter of time--though perhaps a long time--before the regime's repressive policies backfire in a major way? Demographics are destiny, and in a country where the population is as young and modern as Iran's, that can't be good news for the mullahs.
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Jun '10
Re: Some Grim News from Iran
I am deeply saddened to know that in the year 2011 an International Committee Against Stoning even exists.
I hope you're right, Emily, that demographics are destiny. It just seems that the cavemen keep killing off the modern upstarts. What's the penalty for sending a Valentine? Chopping off the hand you present it with or cutting out your tongue for speaking romantic words?
May '10
Re: Some Grim News from Iran
Not sure anyone has any outrage left after focusing on Sarah Palin's choice of metaphors.
Jan '11
Re: Some Grim News from Iran
Removing the heart it represents. After all, the ayatollahs get along fine without one.
Re: Some Grim News from Iran
It's a pretty barbaric throwback, isn't it?
Nov '10
Re: Some Grim News from Iran
Emily Esfahani Smith, Ed. :
What the MSM, at home and abroad, fails to point out is that Ahmadinejad and the mullahs are essentially holding their own people hostage. Those young people (who apparently favor the West) are the only thing standing between Tehran and an H-Bomb.
Oct '10
Re: Some Grim News from Iran
I just wish the left would pay attention to these things. They're so frightened by the thought of Muslim racism, they've turned a blind eye to the radicalization and Islamization of millions of people.
Honestly, at some point paranoia over intolerance simply breeds far worse radicalism. Historians will mark American-style political correctness as doing more harm then good.
Aug '10
Re: Some Grim News from Iran
The beclowning of the feminist movement continues apace. Shameful
Re: Some Grim News from Iran
Joseph Eagar: I just wish the left would pay attention to these things. They're so frightened by the thought of Muslim racism, they've turned a blind eye to the radicalization and Islamization of millions of people.
Honestly, at some point paranoia over intolerance simply breeds far worse radicalism. Historians will mark American-style political correctness as doing more harm then good. · Jan 18 at 8:36am
It really is depressing, especially when you consider the great missed opportunity the protests of 2009 presented. The left totally screwed the pooch on that one.
Aug '10
Re: Some Grim News from Iran
Emily,
How completely revolting that a consensual sex act would be not just a capital crime, but one inflicted with a maximum of pain and humiliation. I am similarly disgusted by the proposals in Uganda to make sodomy a capital crime and even to criminalize pro-gay rhetoric.
I mean, it's one thing to have misgivings about redefining fundamental social institutions and acceptable public discourse for the benefit of gays and lesbians and something completely different to say that they should not be allowed to live their lives in peace. If I had to choose though between a world run by the mullahs and one run by HRC, I'd take HRC in a heartbeat.
Also, out of curiosity, do you still have family in Iran? speak Farsi?
Oct '10
Re: Some Grim News from Iran
From an Islamist perspective, what is not to dislike about Valentine's Day? Valentine's Day is a triple anti-Islamic whammy. First, the day itself commemorates the agape love of a Christian saint. Second and third, in its current American cultural manifestation, it is the commercialization of romantic love (an incarnation of humanistic materialism). All of which are a challenge and threat to the moral and ethical values of an Islamic state. Should we be surprised this is occurring in Iran? I think it would be surprising were it not.
Dec '10
Re: Some Grim News from Iran
What a statistic..70% don't have a memory of the 1979 Revolution. I was in college at the time and remember it well. For a short while I even had an Iranian roomate who tried to explain how things would all turn for the better because they would be able to trade oil for gold and become a wealthy nation. Wonder how that all worked out...? ;)
I say we all send President Ahmadinejad a Valentine's Day card kick back and see what happens ...
Re: Some Grim News from Iran
anon_academic: Emily,
How completely revolting that a consensual sex act would be not just a capital crime, but one inflicted with a maximum of pain and humiliation. I am similarly disgusted by the proposals in Uganda to make sodomy a capital crime and even to criminalize pro-gay rhetoric.
I mean, it's one thing to have misgivings about redefining fundamental social institutions and acceptable public discourse for the benefit of gays and lesbians and something completely different to say that they should not be allowed to live their lives in peace. If I had to choose though between a world run by the mullahs and one run by HRC, I'd take HRC in a heartbeat.
Also, out of curiosity, do you still have family in Iran? speak Farsi? · Jan 18 at 9:41am
Hi Anon ... yes I speak Farsi and do have family in Iran. My grandmother, who spends her time in Iran and in the US, says it's not a great place for a young person to be these days.
Jun '10
Re: Some Grim News from Iran
It's a quadruple whammy: the mullahs don't want to buy flowers and chocolates for all 4 wives. Being a mullah doesn't pay as well as you might think!
Re: Some Grim News from Iran
This is really painful news. It's not an abstraction to me. I'm pretty familiar with the situation of gay Iranian refugees in Istanbul. It makes it to the news when the regime hangs young gay men. It doesn't when those young men are fired from their jobs, stabbed, beaten, robbed, disowned by their families, or forced across the border, penniless, to a country where they have no legal right to work and spend years supplicating for refugee status, being shuffled from one bureaucracy and one city to another. But "not in the news" doesn't mean "not happening to a lot of guys who are just kids, every single day."
Aug '10
Re: Some Grim News from Iran
Emily Esfahani Smith, Ed.
Hi Anon ... yes I speak Farsi and do have family in Iran. My grandmother, who spends her time in Iran and in the US, says it's not a great place for a young person to be these days. · Jan 18 at 10:46am
glad to benefit from your additional perspective on this and best wishes to your family, both here and there.
Sep '10
Re: Some Grim News from Iran
Emily Esfahani Smith, Ed.
It really is depressing, especially when you consider the great missed opportunity the protests of 2009 presented. The left totally screwed the pooch on that one. · Jan 18 at 8:52am
My eyes! My eyes! Medic!
Sep '10
Re: Some Grim News from Iran
It doesn't when those young men are fired from their jobs, stabbed, beaten, robbed, disowned by their families, or forced across the border, penniless, to a country where they have no legal right to work and spend years supplicating for refugee status
I never cease to be amazed at the silence of the gay rights movement in the West to this type of barbarity.
Re: Some Grim News from Iran
Wow. Even if you find the acts described offensive, you've got to concede that that's about as big of a slap as you can give to Ahmadinejad. Reminds me of when Saturday Night Live did the Digital Short with a gay Ahmadinejad shortly after he claimed that there were no homosexuals in Iran. One of the few times comedy made me feel proud.
Re: Some Grim News from Iran
Troy Senik
Wow. Even if you find the acts described offensive, you've got to concede that that's about as big of a slap as you can give to Ahmadinejad.
No doubt. Part of me wonders if they knew they were going to get caught. They were transmitting these images, apparently, on their cellphones, which are surely monitored...
Re: Some Grim News from Iran
anon_academic
Emily Esfahani Smith, Ed.
Hi Anon ... yes I speak Farsi and do have family in Iran. My grandmother, who spends her time in Iran and in the US, says it's not a great place for a young person to be these days. · Jan 18 at 10:46am
glad to benefit from your additional perspective on this and best wishes to your family, both here and there. · Jan 18 at 11:14am
Thanks : )