In Iran an 18-year-old named Nazanin is sentenced to be put to death by hanging. Her crime? Defending herself and her 16-year-old niece from being raped by three men. During the attack she drew a knife and stabbed one of the attackers. In doing so she succeeded in driving the attackers off and saved the two of them from whatever fate awaited them at the hands of the three men.
She was subsequently arrested, tried and found guilty of a crime. At her trial she said in her defense; "I wanted to defend myself and my niece. I did not want to kill that boy. At the heat of the moment I did not know what to do because no one came to our help." Her appeals have failed and without severe pressure from outside sources she will die for this "crime".
The girls' only alternative would have been to submit to the rape and not report it. Why? because if they reported it and could not produce enough male witnesses to confirm that it had indeed been a rape, then the Sharia Court would treat it as a case of adultery and the girls would have been severely punished, especially if a child had been conceived through the rape. The punishment for women or girls who have premarital sex is 100 lashes. Since it WAS a rape, the real (mental) punishment would have been much more severe than that, and lasted for the rest of the victims' lives.
Canadian recording artist Nazanin, who shares a name and a homeland with this young woman, has been championing the cause for some time now. This story in the National Review Online contains an interview with the Artist Nazanin. But the hour for her namesake is at hand and nearly all options have been exhausted.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Aaman
enki, powerful story, would like to cross-publish this on Desicritics.org as well - I'll create an ID for you and post it under your name.
Thanks
2 - enki
Thank you for your kind words. I hope the story has a positive effect but thanks should really go to the Artist Nazanin
3 - Annie
Thanks for bringing this to our attention, enki. Great article. Every voice counts. I'll do what I can to help.
4 - Naj
What's wrong with IRAN's justice system?
Maybe it's a good idea for the Americans to attack them.
5 - Hmmm
Well, inst this a well timed story is out. All we need now is for Bush to tell us God instructed him to attack. Don't trust the media people.
6 - RJ Elliott
Good and important story. I will click on the link and offer my support.
7 - Rizwan
I am truly saddened by this news. I hope that the true criminals be unmasked and brought to justice.
8 - marcus
wait wait wait, let me get this straight. By sharing the same name and background makes you feel its your DUTY to help this person? thats RIIIIIIIDICulous. Oh and last time i checked, a myspace petition sounds more like an attention grabbing attempt to promote your band.
9 - ACB
just thought I'd add a comment to help it get a large number of shouts, otherwise you'd just get a rant on men with all the power. i'm not in the mood however. please click on the link and sign the petition
10 - RUBBERNECK
And these are the motherfuckers you Libs want us to surrender to ?
11 - enki
I don't think this is about politics or attention for anyone. It is about one girl. I remember a similar situation in Africa a year or so ago where a woman was sentenced to be stoned to death for adultry and a petition like this one actually did make the court there re-think it's verdict and saved her life. It isn't about national politics or policy and suggesting that an entire country be wiped out because of the idiocy of it's leaders is ridiculous whether the country in question is Iran or the US. Thank you all for reading and responding to this story or more properly to the plight of Nazanin.
12 - Alexander Chard
Its Tragic if true, but don't they execute teenagers in the US as well?
13 - DJRadiohead
Alexander, young people have been executed in the US but that misses the point entirely. When young people have been sentenced to death in the US it is because they have been convicted of murder. This young woman fought off would-be rapists and now faces the death penalty as a result.
14 - tommyd
This story about the Iranian teenager about to be executed is nothing but pure, unmitigated bullshit-propaganda put out by Iranian exiles in the West who have interest in seeing the Bush Regime topple the Mullahs and see the corrupt Pahlavi family back in power....who, of course, if back in power, would do the solid bidding of it's American masters.
15 - enki
Do you really believe that tommyd? DO you think that women worldwide enjoy the same kind of freedom and equality that women in Europe, Canada and the US do? Do you think that there aren't places where women are still treated more or less as pieces of property rather than as equals with men? Do some reading on amnesty international's site or better yet grab a flight to Tehran and do some on the spot research for yourself. Maybe you will be surprised. Or maybe you will find the kind of situation there that you yourself would rather be the norm...
16 - David
"What's wrong with IRAN's justice system?
Maybe it's a good idea for the Americans to attack them." - Naj
Nice work Naj. This is exactly the type of comment and thinking that this story was PRODUCED to create in you and all who read it. So tell me - who wrote this article? What were their accredited sources?
Oh wait, there aren't any, because it is most likely not true - and just part of the propaganda matrix for an unnecessary war with Iran and all of you morons are going to fall for it.
1) In all liklihood this woman does not exist
2) If she does exist - who cares if she WAS raped and IS going to be murdered? Not I! It definately isn't a reason to support a war on a nation-state level. I'm tired.
17 - jdog286
I agree david... how come.. I saw this same exact article like 2 months ago witht the same pictures and everything saying she was gonna be killed in two weeks? I rememberr thinkgin then : "where are the sources? where did this come from?" Come on guys, use your heads. Its fake.
18 - David
enki said: "Do you really believe that tommyd? DO you think that women worldwide enjoy the same kind of freedom and equality that women in Europe, Canada and the US do?"
Well enki, I read tommyd's comment and I didn't notice him making any of the statements you are placing into his mouth. He simply said the same thing I did which is what you would expect any person with a capacity for critical thought to ask upon reading such an inflamatory piece of propaganda such as this:
"Is this true?"
"what purpose might such a well-timed article such as this serve and to whom?"
"Who benefits from this in the long run?"
"Who wrote this article..? ..sources?"
19 - enki
Hmmmm, interesting logic guys. FYI: I wrote the article. It is based on information from Nazanin the singer and from media sources such as the NRO story which is referenced in my story. I don't know the singer Nazanin personally but I do know the other acts at her label that are supporting her, especially Biff Naked and if Biff believes in the cause then I trust her judgement. Other information can be found in the archives of media outlets such as CNN, Amnesty International and the petition itself is filed with the UN and so it seems they know something about it too.
One more time: This story is not about politics. It is not about attacking Iran as it seems to me that such an atack might kill the girl Nazanin along with her accusers. Such heavy handed, "let's kill em all and let god sort them out" attitudes are beyond me. It is easy to say when it is someone else but when the bombs start falling in your neighborhood or when YOUR own "group" is considered to be human refuse and you are treated as such your tune might change. But then it would be too late.
20 - Kit Peters
As to the truth of this story: the story is mentioned on Iran Focus.
That does not imply that the story is necessarily true; merely that the story is unlikely to be a fabrication of the artist Nazanin.
21 - Alan Greenwood
What a waste of life under such outwardly unfair circumstances. Why am I reading this in an obscure little site and not hearing it on mainstream news which would be heard loud and clear.
22 - Aaman
Perhaps because this 'obscure little site' is your new source for news plus opinion and big media is stuck in the same old groove
23 - David
enki: "This story is not about politics. It is not about attacking Iran..."
I believe that you did not post this story for the purpose of stirring up a "kill 'em all" mindset - but that has inevitably been the effect. Two things come to mind I guess:
1) Chances of stories like this saving this girls life: Slim to none!
2) Chances of ignorant people getting all flustered and deciding what a great idea it would be to bomb all those horrible muslims over in Iran because obviously they must ALL fully agree to this verdict: Much higher! (as demonstrated by Naj #4 and REDDERNECK #10)
The only purpose I see for a story like this is to incite hatred against Iran, perpetuate ignorance and racial/religious stereotypes, and to make oneself feel better by reading it and saying: "Awwwww! :( I'm gonna sign one of those internet petitions that we all know work SO well!"
Just my 2 cents I'm probably wrong.
24 - Deano
Given that the current Iranian regime has shown a demonstratable and well-proven tendancy towards murdering opposition, I find the above story quite credible.
You are talking about the same regime that murdered Canadian photographer Zahra Kazemi in customdy in 2003. To quote Wikipedia's article on the subject - "Although Iran's regime insists that her death was accidental, Shahram Azam, a former military staff physician who left Iran and sought asylum in Canada in 2004, has stated that he examined Kazemi's body and observed evidence of rape and torture, including a skull fracture, broken nose, crushed toe, broken fingers, and severe abdominal bruising. The Canadian government, as well as Kazemi's supporters, consider her death to be a murder."
As for whether this case is being used for propaganda purposes - if it had been cited by GWB etc. I might think they were exploiting it, but as far as I can tell, based on the paucity of media coverage, I would expect that anyone with an ounce of competency in their propaganda abilities would have had this case a much higher level of visibility.
The only ones spinning this topic for their own shallow political objectives seem to be tommyd and David....
25 - SAM
i say if iran is gonna kill her, than crime there is gonna go up like mad. Honestly, what kind of stupidism and idioticism is this? killing a person for self defence,, u know what i think u should do?, i think that we should all go kill the jury for even THINKING of the idea, even if they didnt go on with it
P.S. if they do kill the girl, i hope the US bombs the shit out of them