I hate to have to write off of another blog again, but this is such a terrible news that I must.
Rossiann has posted to ReBelle Nation again about the lashings and the execution of two teens in northeastern Iran. One of them was a minor. The crime? Homosexuality. This was posted by an Iranian blogger to the world, along with pictures, as proof that Iran has now turned into a hard-line Islamic state along the lines of Taliban Afghanistan. The Iranian government is enraged - not by the executions, but by the leaking of the ages to the rest of the world, which tarnishes its image.
This looks like an extension of the foreign policy development back here in the US. Iran tried to modernize itself, with President Khatami in the late 1990s. The US did not reward Iran with anything, still treating it as Khatami were a radical cleric, which he wasn't (though clerics did have power over him). Moreover, the Iranians have seen religious fanatics take over the US government through rigged elections, so they decided to do the same. Sure, Iran is Islamic and US is Christian, but these religions are two sides of the same coin. The only good thing seems to be that there is not an Iranian-American special interest lobby, pushing blind policies, that I know of - unlike their Cuban, Korean, and Vietnamese counterparts. And I live in a metropolitan area with a large Iranian population.
These boys were accused of sexually molesting a 13-year-old boy. If true, it is a terrible crime deserving of some jail time and reforming. But it is NOT deserving of 200+ lashings and the snuffing out of the accused's life. Plus, the due process of law must have been followed, to truly determine the guilt of the accused, which never happens under the Iranian Islamic law. The "new" Iran has just proven itself to be one of the most barbaric states in the world. And again, the United States, being a major executioner itself, and the likelihood of execution depending on the incompetence of the lawyers the poor end up hiring, is not far behind, especially since the Christian radicals want to impose the same kind of moral law.
And I must also add that the strict control of sexuality, as seen in the Iranian society, is a hallmark of patriarchal, male-centered religions, and it's doing no good for the society. There is a good chance that these boys were innocent, and happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. (Suspicion is enough to be declared guilty and executed, in places like Iran, Saudi Arabia, and even atheist China.) If that's the case, they paid for the intolerance and the patriarchy of their country's primary religion with their lives. I'm under the belief that religions must serve to improve the quality of believers' lives. Apparently, Islam is not doing it, and Christianity isn't doing much better either.
