Iranian Faces Death Penalty For Watching Satellite TV
This may seem rather extreme, but it’s true.
An Iranian political prisoner, following 2 years of detention in various solitary prisons, has received a death sentence from a criminal court in Tehran for having watched and contacted an Iranian dissident television program, Simay-e Azadi, says HRDIA.net which is a Persian language website with a focus on human rights situation in Iran.
Simay-e Azadi is a program in Farsi language that is broadcast from abroad presenting the views of the Iranian opposition, the Mujahedin-e Khalq or MEK.
Mullahs consider the MEK to be their arch foe enemy.
Gholamreza Khosravi, 47, is said to support the MEK. He was previously jailed for his political activities during the 80s.
He had earlier received a much lighter sentence in his hometown but when his case was transferred to a court in Tehran, he received the death sentence. A review court later turned down the sentence but another court immediately reinstated it.
Khosravi told reporters that he will not ask for a pardon and that his death sentence is illegal and he did not commit any crime to deserve such punishment.
The Iranian people are, more than ever, using externally produced satellite television programs as their main source of information, news and entertainment. But the mullahs’ regime, on the other hand, considers the free flow of information to be a growing threat to its authoritarian rule. Along with internet and the new mobile phone technology, satellite TV leaves no room for control of information and censorship the way a dictatorial regime prefers to have.
Iranian police attacks houses and neighborhoods at nights, collecting satellite dishes from atop buildings and apartments. Those arrested receive harsh punishments. But this may be the first instance of a death sentence being handed down for charges related to satellite TV.
Has there ever been a regime as cruel and bonkers as Iran.
Beware of Bulls
I’ve not heard of this quote before.
Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are a good person, is a little like expecting a bull not to attack you because you are a vegetarian.
It is from the American writer, Dennis Wholey, and is used in a leader in today’s Times, about Khalil Rasjed Dale. The leader says that the Red Cross were right to not pay a ransome.
The paper has two other stories of ransoms in Islamic-controlled territory.
One concerns a holidaymaker, Steven McGowan, held with others in Mali and reported being ransomed in exchange for allowing Abu Qatata to go anywhere he wants.
The other concerns a British mine clearing expert, Chris Fielding, on a UN mission, held with others in Khartoum.
Islam is losing all respect among many people for not imposing Islamic values on thugs, who see Westerners as easy money.
There is also another story about Lloyds of London backing a private force that will act against Somali pirates.
And politicians in the UK and Europe, wonder why people vote for the far-right like the BNP in the UK and the Front Nationale in France.
What Right Do The Taliban Have to Call Themselves Islamic?
We received the news yesterday of the cruel murder of Khalil Dale in Pakistan, supposedly by the Taliban. It is not the first time, they have killed people, who are trying to help the poorest of the poor where they operate. But then that was one of Khalil’s crimes in their eyes.
This sort of behaviuor disgusts me and contrasts so strongly with the guy called, Mohammed, late last night in Marks and Spencer. We talked about the rain and I said that I’d seen the aftermath of the bad accident in the Essex Road the day before. He asked if I was alright. I said yes, but thought the guy wasn’t. That is true compassion and should go with us all. And in fact, does go with most of us. Except obviously groups, like the Nazis and the Taliban.
I for one, hope that like bad fruit, the Taliban and their ilk, just wither and die! But I’m not totally hopeful it will happen!
Jimmy Carter on the Death Penalty
This article appeared in the Macon Telegraph.
For many reasons, it is time for Georgia and other states to abolish the death penalty. A recent poll showed 61 % of Americans would choose a punishment other than the death penalty for murder.
Also, just 1 % of police chiefs think that expanding the death penalty would reduce violent crime. This change in public opinion is steadily restricting capital punishment, both in state legislatures and in the federal courts.
As Georgia’s chief executive, I competed with other governors to reduce our prison populations. We classified all new inmates to prepare them for a productive time in prison, followed by carefully monitored early-release and work-release programs. We recruited volunteers from service clubs who acted as probation officers and “adopted” one prospective parolee for whom they found a job when parole was granted. At that time, in the 1970s, only 1 in 1,000 Americans was in prison.
Our nation’s focus is now on punishment, not rehabilitation. Although violent crimes have not increased, the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, with more than 7.43 per 1,000 adults imprisoned at the end of 2010. Our country is almost alone in our fascination with the death penalty. 90 % of all executions are carried out in China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United States.
One argument for the death penalty is that it is a strong deterrent to murder and other violent crimes. In fact, evidence shows just the opposite. The homicide rate is at least 5 times greater in the United States than in any Western European country, all without the death penalty.
Southern states carry out more than 80 % of the executions but have a higher murder rate than any other region. Texas has by far the most executions, but its homicide rate is twice that of Wisconsin, the first state to abolish the death penalty. Look at similar adjacent states: There are more capital crimes in South Dakota, Connecticut and Virginia (with death sentences) than neighboring North Dakota, Massachusetts and West Virginia (without death penalties). Furthermore, there has never been any evidence that the death penalty reduces capital crimes or that crimes increased when executions stopped. Tragic mistakes are prevalent. DNA testing and other factors have caused 138 death sentences to be reversed since I left the governor’s office.
The cost for prosecuting executed criminals is astronomical. Since 1973, California has spent about $4 billion in capital cases leading to only 13 executions, amounting to about $307 million each.
Some devout Christians are among the most fervent advocates of the death penalty, contradicting Jesus Christ and misinterpreting holy scriptures and numerous examples of mercy. We remember God’s forgiveness of Cain, who killed Abel, and the adulterer King David, who had Bathsheba’s husband killed. Jesus forgave an adulterous woman sentenced to be stoned to death and explained away the “eye for an eye” scripture.
There is a stark difference between Protestant and Catholic believers. Many Protestant leaders are in the forefront of demanding ultimate punishment.
Official Catholic policy condemns the death penalty. Perhaps the strongest argument against the death penalty is extreme bias against the poor, minorities or those with diminished mental capacity. Although homicide victims are 6 times more likely to be black rather than white, 77 % of death penalty cases involve white victims.
Also, it is hard to imagine a rich white person going to the death chamber after being defended by expensive lawyers. This demonstrates a higher value placed on the lives of white Americans.
It is clear that there are overwhelming ethical, financial and religious reasons to abolish the death penalty.
Jimmy makes some interesting points and I think he’s right.
One thing I find interesting is that Protestants are more in favour of the death penalty than Catholics. I doubt many European Protestant are in favour, so why the difference?
Religious Spam
I just received some rather evangelical religious spam. It’s funny but it is actually quite unusual to get spam like this, although I do get a fair bit through the letter box and see it stuck to the bus stop. But then that tends to be a bit phobic in various ways.
This message was just too long to read, so I deleted it.
I did have brief look at it and sees that it mentions someone called Linda Newkirk from Arkansas. Searching for her on the Internet reveals the sort of things, that give Christianity a bad name in the minds of the well-read believer. But then people like this have always been around to burn Catholics or Protestants at the stake, persecute the Jews, Huguenots, the Muslims, the Hindus and the Sikhs, to name a small selection of those persecuted over the centuries. And I suspect the Homo Sapiens used to persecute the Neandertals before that!
If this mad woman had any faith, she’d be against capital punishment and would proclaim the fact, as it is still legal in Arkansas.
To me anybody, who believes in capital punishment and religion is a complete hypocrite.
It’s Official Now!
They’ve announced that the rain is now the worst since Genesis Chapters 6 to 9.
I did walk to get my paper today, but I then waited in the shelter at the bus stop and cleared out the rubbish into the bin there, before taking the bus two stops to home.
At least my copy of The Times is dry.
Angels of Mersey
I missed Angels of Mersey about the work of chaplains in Liverpool and caught up with the first episode last night on the iPlayer.
It showed the University in Freshers Week and in some respects it hasn’t changed much since I went to my Freshers Week in 1965.
We often talk about bad building in the 1960s, but Liverpool University seems to have avoided some of the worst examples.
Political Correctness Runs Amok
Not my words but a headline in the Daily Mail for this article. It’s all about New York City banning the use of a list of fifty words in tests. One was dinosaur because it might upset creationists.
Who cares upsetting them, as they are a ragbag collection of religious idiots who deny the truth and logic of science.
Read David Attenborough on the subject of creationism here.
What’s Going Wrong With Scottish Football?
Reading all of the stories last night about Scottish football, it appears to be digging itself a big hole.
Apparently, the Scottish Premier League is set up that all changes need an 11-1 majority, to protect the interests of Celtic and Rangers. The other clubs want this changed to a 9-3 vote. The manifestations of this are well set out in this reasoned article from the Herald.
The article ends with this statement.
The Old Firm, and the rest of the SPL clubs, have a responsibility to do what is right for the game. Where is the consensus? Who is prepared to act radically, instead of just talking about it?
If Scotland wants to have a viable football competition, the powers that be must act decisively, radically and quick. One solution, that I would not countenance at any price is Rangers and Celtic playing in the English leagues. They must keep their sectarianism north of the border.
To make matter worse for Scottish football, the driver of the Motherwell team coach managed to get it stuck under a bridge, as is reported here.
I do also wonder whether the rise of Scottish rugby teams like Edinburgh are turning fans against football and its never ending troubles. Fanslike nothing better than a winner.
Mice in Tesco Was Plague From God
This article in the Standard, entitled, Mice plague ‘God’s reply’ to gay gift, is about a religious zealot, who claims that God got back at Tesco because they backed London’s Gay Pride march.
How ridiculous! Did God ring him up and tell him? Or does God have a Facebook or Twitter account?
Has anybody asked God, if he or she is gay and got an answer that can be proven? After all, if there is only one God, they could be gay, straight or bi-sexual and probably wouldn’t know. But if they are the only one, they are definitely lonely.
The Anonymous Widower 