Dear BlL (Bloggers in Lebanon)
(As opposed to our BOL opponents ya3neh)
Our blogger meeting number 9 will take place tomorrow, at 7:00 p.m., at... Linalone's terrace/stay7a!
for those interested, email me for the exact address. (there's food! bzourat w chips w min jami3o ;) )
posted by Eve @ 1:39 PM
3 Comments:
At January 3, 2006, Nazanin was sentenced to death for murder by a criminal court. The Court of Appeal will review her sentence, and if upheld there, it must be confirmed by the Supreme Court, before she can be executed.
According to the Iranian daily Etemaad, then 17-year-old Nazanin and her niece had been spending some time in a park west of Tehran with their boyfriends, when three men started harassing them.
The girls` boyfriends fled from the scene, leaving them helpless behind. The men pushed Nazanin and her niece down on the ground and tried to rape them, and to protect herself, she took out a knife from her pocket and stabbed one of the men in the hand.
The girls tried to escape, but the men overtook them, and at this point, Nazanin stabbed one of the other men in the chest, which eventually killed him. According to the newspaper, she broke down in tears when she told the court: "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." Nevertheless, the court sentenced her to death by hanging.
In a western country Nazanin would probably be acquitted or at most receive a short prison sentence, as the murder was obviously committed in self-defense. Furthermore, since she was only 17 years old, she would be treated as a minor. In Iran however, the minimum age for the death penalty is 15 years for males, and 9, yes nine years for females. Although there is no record of girls that young being executed, the fact that the law opens for this speaks clearly about what kind regime Iran is.
Another point worth noticing, is that if Nazanin had let the men rape her, she could in the worst case have been arrested for extra-martial sex, which carries a maximum penalty of 100 lashes.
This case has received little attention from the rest of the world, and one may wonder why.
We would not accept this if it happened in USA or Europe, so why should we accept it from Iran?
Iranian politicians and judges are just as intelligent as their Western counterparts, so there is no reason to hold them to a lesser standard. The fact that they have a different culture and religion is no excuse. What they are doing is wrong, and it is our duty as fellow humans to protest.
We are not allowed to sit safely in our homes and do nothing while Nazanin is killed.
Remember all the attention the execution of Stanley Tookie Williams received all over the world. Does not Nazanin deserve 100 times that attention?
Please do not allow the Iranian regime to carry through without resistance
What you can do
Help spreading the story about Nazanin! Tell everyone you know, family, friends and others who might be interested. Direct them to this web page and ask them to take action for Nazanin.
Contact newspapers, TV-channels, blogs and other media and ask them to report this story.
US residents can contact local or national media via NOW.org
Write about Nazanin in your own blog, homepage, or in internet forums or chat rooms you frequent.
Put one of these banners on your website: http://save.nazanin.googlepages.com/banner.htm (if there is no space, you can seriously remove the WFP banned I asked you to put before -thanks btw- but please list for now Nazanin)
Write the Iranian government or the Iranian embassy of your country , and demand that Nazanin`s death sentence is commuted immediately. Read more
Contact politicians/representatives and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in your country and ask them to pressure Iran to commute the death sentence and free Nazanin. US representatives can be contacted via NOW.org.
Contact the United Nations Office of Human Rights on this email-address: tb-petitions@ohchr.org and ask them to protest.
You can also contact them via this page: http://www.handsoffcain.org/azioniurgenti/frmSender.php?idazione=8302152
Sign and spread this petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/Nazanin/petition.html, started by the Canadian model Nazanin Afshin-Jam.
tab... inno shoo? bala el meeting?
dear Bil
Im coming with a french speaking journalist working for a french speaking magazine in achrafieh. she contacted me though my blog and she wants to meet us!
I hope you don't mind...
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