|
Arrival of evil!
"I have no feeling on my return to Iran!" Said Khomeini in a return flight to Iran after 15 years in exile
Holy Crime, crime of clergy, Ecclesiastical crime,
|
|
|
Three juveniles sentenced to death
Wednesday,
8th September 2004
Tehran, Sep. 8 - Death sentences have been issued for three boys
by the names of Ali M., Morteza F. and Milad B. who are presently in the Center
for Reform and Education (Juvenile Prison). While all three of them were under
18 when they allegedly committed their crimes, their death sentences are going
to be carried out soon as they turn 18.
Under Iran’s Islamic Law children are exempt from judicial punishment but the
same legal system considers girls at the age of 10 and boys at 16 as adults and
punishable.
Last week a court sentenced a 16-year-old boy to death on charges of drug
trafficking. Feiz Mohammad, who is from neighboring Afghanistan, was tried and
sentenced to death by judge Loqham Kia Pasha in Branch 122 of the Special
Juvenile Court of Karaj, 40 kilometers west of the capital, Tehran.
Mohammad was accused of stealing seven kilograms of pure morphine from his
employer, a ranch owner, and giving it to a group of Afghan immigrants
distributing drugs. He faced no other charges.
On Aug. 15 the Iranian regime hanged a 16 year old year by the name of Atefeh
Rajabi in the town of Neka in northern Iran.
Discrimination against religious minorities in IRAN
In order to fully understand the roots of the
severe discriminations faced by religious minorities in Iran, it is important to
be acquainted with the basic founding principles of the Islamic Republic of
Iran.
The first principle is that divine law is the unique source of legitimacy and
political authority. The second one is that, while waiting for the reappearance
of the Twelfth Imam, the depository and unique interpreter of divine law is the
Spiritual Leader2. Together, these two principles form what is known as the
concept of “Velayate Faghih” or “spiritual leadership” - the cornerstone of the
Islamic Republic of Iran - according to which religious jurisprudence, best
expressed through the Spiritual Leader, is given control over all aspects of
civil and political society.
The peculiarity of the Islamic Republic of Iran is not the mere fact that Islam
is the religion of the State (other States share the same feature) but rather
the fact that the State itself is conceived as an institution and instrument of
the divine will. In this system, which can best be described as a clerical
oligarchy, there is an identification between divine truth and clerical
authority. Article 110 of the Constitution lists all the powers granted to the
Spiritual Leader, appointed by his peers for an unlimited duration. Among
others, the Spiritual Leader exercises his control over the judiciary, the army,
the police, the radio, the television, but also over the President and the
Parliament, institutions elected by the people. Article 91 of the Constitution
establishes a body known as the “Guardian Council” whose function is to examine
the compatibility of all legislation enacted by the Islamic Consultative
Assembly with “the criteria of Islam and the Constitution”3 and who can
therefore veto any and all legislation. Half of the members of the Guardian
Council are appointed by the Spiritual Leader and the other half are elected by
the Islamic Consultative Assembly from among the Muslim jurists nominated by the
Head of the Judicial Power (who is, himself, appointed by the Spiritual Leader).
The Guardian council exercise a double control of any draft legislation, with
two different procedures :
conformity with the Constitution : all 12 elected members vote, a simple
majority recognizes the constitutionality
conformity with Islam : only the six religious leaders elected personally by
the Spiritual leader vote, and a simple majority is required to declare the
compatibility of a draft legislation with Islam. Consequently, four religious
leaders may block all draft legislation enacted by the Parliament. The Guardian
Council and the Supreme Leader therefore and in practice centralize all powers
in Iran.
***** Article 12 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran states :
“The official religion of Iran is Islam and the Twelver Ja’fari school, and this
principle will remain eternally immutable. Other Islamic schools are to be
accorded full respect, and their followers are free to act in accordance with
their own jurisprudence in performing their religious rites. These schools enjoy
official status in matters pertaining to religious education, affairs of
personal status (marriage, divorce, inheritance, and wills) and related
litigation in courts of law. [...]”
2 See Article 5 of the Constitution. 3 See Article 94 of the Constitution.
Although Sunni Muslims are accorded full respect by the Constitution, some Sunni
groups have reported to be discriminated against by the government. Of
particular concern is the refusal of the authorities to allow the construction
of a mosque in Tehran for the Sunni Muslim community.
Article 13 of the Constitution gives a special status to three religious
minorities named “recognized religious minorities” : “Zoroastrian, Jewish, and
Christian Iranians are the only recognized religious minorities, who, within the
limits of the law, are free to perform their religious rites and ceremonies, and
to act according to their own canon in matters of personal affairs and religious
education.”
Despite the existence of a specific status in the Constitution, these three
recognized religious minorities face severe discrimination. First of all, they
are being discriminated against by a number of legal provisions, which
discriminate per se against all non-Muslims. These provisions will be exposed in
detail in the first part of this report. Secondly, since Zoroastrians, Jews and
Christians are only free to perform their religion “within the limits of the
law”, the authorities have imposed in practice important limits to their right
to exercise their religion, a right that is being continuously restricted and
interfered with.
Conversion from Islam to one of the three recognized religions (apostasy) may
still be punishable by death. The government has been particularly vigilant in
recent years in curbing proselytising activities by evangelical Christians,
whose services are conducted in Persian. Moreover, all three minorities complain
of discrimination in the field of employment, report clear limitations imposed
upon their upward mobility and complain of being treated like “second-class
citizens”. As a consequence of Articles 12 and 13 of the Constitution, citizens
of the Islamic Republic of Iran are officially divided into four categories :
Muslims, Zoroastrians, Jews and Christians. Therefore, despite the fact that
they constitute the largest religious minority in Iran, the Bahá’ís are a
“non-recognized” religious minority without any legal existence, classified as
“unprotected infidels” by the authorities. They are not even granted the
theoretical right to perform their religion and are subject to systematic
discrimination on the basis of their religious beliefs. The second part of this
report will focus on the different types of discrimination faced by the Bahá’ís.
In the same manner, atheists do not have any recognized status. They must
declare their faith in one of the four officially recognized religions in order
to be able to claim a number of legal rights, such as the possibility to apply
for the general examination to enter any university in Iran
Courtesy of
Iranfocus & FIDH.org
The doors of Cinema Rex, Abadan, was closed, locked, fuel used to arson the movie
theatre and burned down, several hundreds of people died. Early crime of Khomeini and his brain-washed followers
arson the theatre!
|
Next
|