Death penalty considered for blasphemous bloggers in Iran
4 July 2008 by Stardust
If this new law passes in Iran, the act of using the internet to promote apostasy will also become a capital offense. This is absolutely an outdated and outrageous law and an example of how a society controls people via religion making examples of those who disobey or speak out against the unreasonableness of their government and clergy.
Iran mulls death penalty for Internet crimes
TEHERAN - Iran’s parliament is set to debate a draft bill which could see the death penalty used for those deemed to promote corruption, prostitution and apostasy on the Internet, reports said on Wednesday.
MPs on Wednesday voted to discuss as a priority the draft bill which seeks to “toughen punishment for harming mental security in society,” the ISNA news agency said.
The text lists a wide range of crimes such rape and armed robbery for which the death penalty is already applicable. The crime of apostasy (the act of leaving a religion, in this case Islam) is also already punishable by death.
However, the draft bill also includes “establishing weblogs and sites promoting corruption, prostitution and apostasy”, which is a new addition to crimes punishable by death.
Those convicted of these crimes “should be punished as “mohareb’ (enemy of God) and “corrupt on the earth’,” the text says.
Under Iranian law the standard punishments for these two crimes are “hanging, amputation of the right hand and then the left foot as well as exile.”
The bill — which is yet to be debated by lawmakers — also stipulates that the punishment handed out in these cases “cannot be commuted, suspended or changed”.
Internet is widely used in Iran despite restrictions on access and the blocking of thousands of websites with a sexual content or deemed as insulting religious sanctities and promoting political dissent.
Blogging is also very popular among cyber-savvy young Iranians, some openly discussing their private lives or criticising the system.
Human rights groups have accused Iran of making excessive use of the death penalty but Teheran insists it is an effective deterrent that is carried out only after an exhaustive judicial process.
Glad I live here.
4 July 2008, on 4:42 pm
Hi,
I am a subscriber to your blog feed and I am one of those athiest bloggers in Iran! My wife has been crying since she has heard this news and is begging me to stop writing. Of course this is not something new and I’m already writing anonymously, but now they have decided to track IPs, etc.
You are so glad “you live there” my friend! and I do hope the people in your country really realize what a great gift is to live in a country where church (or mosque) and the state are kept separate!
I know there a hell lot of them who don’t!
4 July 2008, on 8:00 pm
That’s another thing to feel a bit patriotic about; at least for the moment, we can say whatever we want- except about L. Ron Hubbtardery of course- without fear of institutional reprisal.
I can say “Dick Cheney is busy fisting W., while getting a gaptoothed rimjob from Condi.”
Or;
“Religion belongs in the DSM-IV, under delusional disorders.”
Or;
“Mohammed was a goat-raping pedophiliac, schizophrenic who wrapped his little mohammed in bacon everyday until it was ready to eat.”
Or.
“The Beatles weren’t as good as either The Stones, The Who, or Led Zeppelin.”
4 July 2008, on 8:29 pm
I am a subscriber to your blog feed and I am one of those athiest bloggers in Iran!
Anam, you are a very brave person to keep blogging under such a threat. I feel for your wife who is so afraid for you. I can’t imagine living like that, with that fear of what would happen if you are caught doing anything “illegal”. I am glad that I live in a free society where I can say the things like Raindogzilla has said above and not have to be afraid of the police coming to take me away to kill me.
I hope you stay safe.
4 July 2008, on 8:44 pm
Anam, you’re a better man than I.
5 July 2008, on 12:40 am
Anam–
Kudos. You are truly a great man. I consider myself a noisy, proud atheist but I’m pretty sure fear of death would effectively silence me.
Amazing that the faithful are so insecure in their beliefs that they feel the need to “silence” those who would challenge them.
5 July 2008, on 1:26 am
Damn, Anam, that really puts it all in perspective. I’d like to think that, faced with such repression, I, too, would, speak out. But who of us really knows until it happens. Seriously though, be safe.
We’ve heard here that, prior to our idiot president placing your country on his “axis of evil” to do list, the students and the young folks- in Tehran anyway- were beginning to raise their voices against the ayatollahs, that modernization seemed if not inevitable, then eventual. Just curious as to what the average Iranian citizen thinks about all this ramped up rhetoric between our president and yours?
5 July 2008, on 2:56 pm
Good luck Anam.
6 July 2008, on 1:21 am
A little Holiday OT…
A few of you might find this article by Acharya S interesting…
It’s regarding a recent controversial (surprise!) archaeological find…an ancient pre-Christian Hebrew tablet…like…take a look?:
“Ancient Tablet Evidence of Jesus Myth?”
http://tbknews.blogspot.com/2008/07/ancient-tablet-evidence-of-jesus-myth.html
Yeah…one of mankind’s oldest, perhaps greatest, and certainly most practiced ‘talents’…
Dreaming up total, jaw-dropping, brain-warping, (often ear drum shattering), frequently underwear soiling…
Bullshit!…? Or, if you prefer…
Horseshit!
Yeah…like the Fundies do…ALWAYS smile when you say that?
Of course…Hysterically(?)…that’s probably where the “Shit eating grin” originated!
I dunno…somehow saying: “Road Apples!”…no matter how loud…doesn’t quite elicit the same effect…
Just a thought.
7 July 2008, on 6:03 pm
I also sympathize with with Anam. Even though the severity of our problems don’t come close to his, all too often some closet communist feels a need to take away one of our hard-earned rights, for “our own good”. We then find ourselves in the troublesome position of having to put them in their place. Thankfully there are still ways to do this.